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One Hundred Dollars a Month

I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

The Great Vanilla Extract Giveaway

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*** The comments for this giveaway are now closed ***

Baking season is officially upon us and if you’ve stepped foot in the baking aisle lately than you know the price of vanilla has skyrocketed over the past year. Well, last month I found a sweet deal on vanilla extract online and thought I’d snatch up a couple of bottles while the price was good and GIVE THEM AWAY because you know, baking season is here and I don’t know about you, I am ready to bake some cookies! {Or is it, I’m ready to eat some cookies?}

So let’s do this!

Two lucky winners will each receive one 16 ounce Bottle of McCormick All Natural Pure Vanilla Extract

How you can win it:

Curious minds want to know…. If you win a bottle of vanilla extract, what will you do with it? Bake cookies, a cake, dab a little on your wrist instead of perfume, give it away to the baker on your list? We want to know.

Just answer that one question below in the comment section here on the blog and you’re entered to win. Life’s pretty complicated sometimes, so I like to keep things simple around here. And just so you know, this particular giveaway is open to residents anywhere on the planet earth.

Rules:

1 entry per person/ip address. If you cheat, you will totally be disqualified.

This giveaway ends Thursday, December 6th, 2018 @9 pm EST and the winner will be announced in the Friday, December 7th edition of Mornings with Mavis. You will be notified via email and have 24 hours to claim your prize. If you do not claim your prize within 24 hours, the prize will be forfeited! 🙂

Good Luck. I hope you win!

♥ Mavis

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Comments

  1. there are SO MANY RECIPES i make that use 1 or more teaspoons of vanilla! i would make:

    1. my great aunts molasses cookies
    2. pumpkin chocolate chip bread
    3. vanilla cake – from scratch
    4. lots of quickbreads
    5. brown sugar brownies

    and so many more things…..

    • I work with Boars Head meats and today I found via Pinterest a recipe for Bacon Pecan Brittle. We have great bacon and this recipe uses vanilla extract. Thought Id give it a try

        • I bought vanilla recently. I didn’t realize it was “baking vanilla” apparently bakers want artificial stuff along with their real vanilla. It is not the same at all and I hate using it. I need some good vanilla for our upcoming Christmas cookie baking party. Mexican wedding cakes are at the top of the list.

  3. I put vanilla and almond is almost everything I bake! This would sure come in handy this time of year. It’s almost time for me and the kids to make cookie platters to hand out to friends and family for Christmas!

  6. I would love to bake the cookies then eat them! lol Love to make a shortbread bar with a fruit topping from my stash of homemade jams with crumble on top. I’ve been known to put a dent in a 9×13 pan! I’ve been experimenting with other types of extracts since the vanilla is so expensive but it doesn’t taste the same. I would love to win this!

  7. I use vanilla in nearly everything sweet this time of year. On the regular, it goes into my pancake or french toast batter for weekend breakfast goodness.

    It is cookie season though, so I will use a bunch on frosting and sugar cookies! Woohoo!

  8. This would come in handy! My kids love banana bread so I’m always whipping up a batch.
    Thanks for the giveaway!

  11. Holy moly – I didn’t even know vanilla bottles of that size existed! 🙂 If I won one, I’d give it to my sister-in-law; she and her two daughters do tons of holiday baking every year, providing all of us with an assortment of goodies that look and taste yummy.

  12. I love your blog and follow your resolutions every week. It inspires me to do my own resolutions. One of mine for 2018 was to bake with my 8-year old daughter. We have chronicled our choices on Facebook, including a pear frangipane tart, a lemon raspberry layer cake, and macarons. We love watching the Great British Baking Show and the Kids Baking Championship. So we’d use it for some awesome treats before 2018 is over and we find a new resolution!

  13. Use it for annual Christmas Cookie Bake day with five ladies that have been my best friends through tears and laughter …

  14. I have a cinnamon allergy so in place of it I use vanilla. My pumpkin pies are delicious with an extra hint of vanilla. I enjoy reading your blog daily.

  15. What a wonderful giveaway! I will be doing lots of baking but my Poppy Seed Cake takes lots of vanilla and almond extracts. It’s a family favorite!!!

  18. Yum! Rice pudding, my grandmas no bake cookie recipe, whipped cream for crepes, and white cake with Nutella frosting. Thanks for the fun give away.

  20. I will use it to bake with my daughters! They would bake everyday, if I let them. 🙂 I’m thinking sugar cookies and chocolate chip squares. 🙂

  21. I use vanilla nearly every single day. Due to dietary restrictions I have to bake every bready kind of product known to man, including banana bread, waffles and cream cheese pancakes. But I am most looking forward to making hamantaschen for Purim, a feast out of the book of Esther. Hamantaschen, or Haman’s hats, are a triangular shaped cookie filled with Jam or cream cheese.

  24. I plan on using the vanilla extract to bake cookies and to make some butterscotch pudding this winter! Yum!

  25. So many things…cinnamon rolls, browned butter chocolate chip cookies, eggnog pound cake, macarons. cakes, edible cookie dough…the list goes on and on as I love to bake all year

  26. I use vanilla in sweet breads and lots of cookie recipes. Our seasonal favorites are snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, peanut blossoms, blonde brownies, and no bake cookies. My kids and I bake an assortment of goodies to give to our neighbors each year. Thank you for the great giveaway!

  28. Whole lotta baking going on – cookies, sweet breads, coffee cakes, cinnamon rolls. So many baked goods, so little time.

  31. My current bottle is just about gone so this would be great to win!! I do a ton of baking for the holidays – cookies, coffee cakes, nreads and muffins! And, of course, the French toast casserole for Christmas morning!

  32. I’m going to use it in the only Christmas cookie I make… Oatmeal Cranberry Cheesecake Bars. Simply Scrumptious!

  33. I love vanilla! If I get a little on my fingers while I’m baking, you better believe I’m going to put it on my neck!

  34. I would definitely be using it in my holiday baking this year! I am planning to do more baking (cookies and sweet breads) this year than usual to give as gifts for neighbors and friends. Speaking of vanilla, do you have any suggestions for buying whole vanilla beans? I would like to try making my own for myself and for a unique culinary gift for a friend or two. Thanks Mavis!

  35. All the Christmas cookies!! I have been hanging onto my last bottle of affordable vanilla extract like it’s gold..only been used for birthdays! It is almost out though.

  37. Pure vanilla extract is the new “black gold”!! ‘Tis the season for platters of sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. My nieces and nephews call them magic cookies – not sure why, but they are tasty!

  38. I can’t believe how much the price has skyrocketed it is insane. I would bake with it. Cookies, banana bread, muffins, etc. I thought about making my own vanilla again but the price of vanilla beans is really high too.

  39. I would use it for making French Toast for my family, as well as various cookie recipes. Sometimes I cut the amount of vanilla extract in half to make my vanilla supply last longer!

  40. I use it as an alternative sweetner: a splash in my tea or coffee, or splash in the pot when I’m cooking oatmeal. Sweet giveaway Mavis!

  45. OH…what a great giveaway! I’m teaching my Granddaughter to bake since they don’t have Home Ec in school anymore! We plan take bake all kinds of Christmas goodies and we would use it in those! Have a fabulous day!

  46. Cookies & cake for my family of 8! We eat cookies @ breakfast time here….of course, after something a bit healthier

  50. All my Christmas baking is ahead of me and most involves vanilla! I bake an “old family tradition” gumdrop bread to give as gifts to all my siblings. This year my niece want to learn to make spritz cookies. And the list goes on!

  54. We live for vanilla! Cookies, cakes, frostings and whipped creams!

    One thing we love to do in the winter months is heat apple cider and add cinnamon and vanilla, then top with fresh whipped cream to give a little sweet and creaminess! So much healthier and cheaper than Starbucks! Yummm….

  56. I just bought some sprinkles from Sweetapolita.com, so I plan to make cookies and cupcakes for the holidays. I would use it in those if I win.

  57. I use vanilla a lot in my baking. My kids love warm cookies after school. This is such a wonderful giveaway.

  58. Treat it like the liquid gold that it is!! Tons of baking coming up!! Looking forward to oodles of cookies.. easpecially shortbread

  68. Sitting quietly while raising my hand…

    I would love a free bottle of vanilla to make sugar cookies for both my christmas party and my neighbors and gifts!

  69. I will use it in my Jan Hagel cookies this Christmas and to bake Christmas cutout cookies with my grandson.

  70. I would use the vanilla in my coffee cake. I make it every Christmas morning for the family. This way everyone can nibble as they see fit.

  72. I would use it to bake my 94-year-old grandma my chocolate chip cookies that she loves. They always put a smile on her face. 🙂

  77. I really like McCormick Pure Vanilla! I would use it in banana nut bread, pecan pie, and cookies! This size bottle would last a while!

  79. I would use it in cinnamon roll icing and icing for my coconut cake.
    These are two items I make the most.

  81. Homemade marshmallows (pork allergy – commercial marshmallows are not an option and buying the kosher version is expensive and the texture is wrong!). Plus I make a room spray with vanilla that is incredible.

  82. My mom used to make a Cream Cheese Pound Cake and it is a family favorite. Dh and I were both diagnosed as diabetics in the last year, so our sugar consumption has gone to almost zero since then.

    However, I would make this cake in a flipping heartbeat. I don’t have any vanilla in the house and it doesn’t taste good without it, so I haven’t even made it for the kids.

    Win or lose, awesome giveaway, Mavis.

  84. I haven’t purchased vanilla in years. My friends and family who visit Mexico would always bring a bottle back for me. I’m at the end of my supply and sadly only have less than 1/2 inch in my last bottle. I need to replenish my supply for lots and lots and lots of cinnamon rolls for the holidays. My grands help with the baking and love to deliver to our service providers, police, fire, garbage, mail, teachers, neighbors. It’s been a fun holiday tradition.

  89. Haha! This giveaway is awesome! Christmas cookies with the kids, and some zucchini bread to keep plugging my way through the stockpile in my freezer – those projects are on the horizon!

  94. Well lots of holiday baking of course! I like to do most from scratch but even from boxes, a teaspoon of vanilla and an extra egg and using milk instead of the water called for, goes a long way in making it taste closer to homemade! 🙂

  95. I would attempt to make my husband’s favorite peanut butter roll candy. I’m super intimidated and figure it will take several batches to master.

  96. I just baked 4 dozen mini loaves of pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving baskets for our little food pantry. Today I am baking cookies for a cookie walk the money goes to the homeless veterans and next weekend I am baking cookies for a cookie walk for the food pantry. I need the vanilla so much this time of year.
    Wonderful giveaway.

  97. I will use to bake up a delicious pile of cookies for my annual cookie exchange with my favorite people. I love vanilla and typically use twice as much as the recipes call for. However, with the price if it I am finding myself with a more tempered hand.

  98. I have been baking cookies with almond extract as I just can’t bring myself to pay those prices so this would be a fun win for me. Happy holiday season to you. You look good in the snow.

  99. Where do I start? Cookies, muffins, cakes, cupcakes, quick breads, hot fudge sauce, all the things.

  101. Totally keep it for myself. I’m the one on both sides of the family who bakes and there’s nothing like real vanilla extract for flavor!

  104. A friend and I take a day off of work and bake the entire day together. It’s something I look forward to most about the holiday season. Then we give the majority away. That bottle of liquid, delicious gold would come in super handy! We also buy a case of butter and use most of the 18 lbs that day! It’s sounds insane but it really is the most fun,

  105. Those are amazingly large bottles of vanilla! I use it in all sorts of sweet and savory dishes and baked goods.

  106. The fake stuff MIGHT be almost OK in cookies and such, but good custards, tapioca, and the like really must have REAL vanilla. These would be my first uses of this vanilla.

    Thanks for the opportunity!

  109. I have been holding off on restocking vanilla, waiting for the price to drop. 🙁
    I would praise the name “Mavis” and keep on bakin’!

  111. I have two things I use vanilla in most often. Making my old fashioned baked custard and/or chocolate chip cookies. That is where I would use it.

  113. Baking! I bake most of our desserts (except ice cream!) so I’d have a lot of options. Cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies are always favorites 🙂

  115. I do a lot of baking but this time of year I turn into a candy maker! So I would be so excited to use that vanilla in all the fudge, caramel, divinity and all the other sweet treats, that go along with the Christmas season. Awesome giveaway!

  117. I would.make my MOM’s pixels cookies. She can’t bake any longer and they are an Italian family tradition.

  118. If I win if will be baking cookies with it. Every year my kids and I deliver cookies to our neighbors and friends.

  122. Vanilla
    I love you let me counts the ways :
    cookies, about a gazillion kinds
    cakes,
    bread pudding,
    french toast,
    hamantashen for Purim,
    puddings……………… thanks for the great give away

  124. Cookies! French toast! Everything!

    I do actually have vanilla oil perfume, so no need to waste any on me! I cant do floral scents, so it is about the only think that diesnt give me headaches. One day years ago a kindergartener at work said “yum! You smell like cookies!”

  125. I will use it to bake cookies and other baked goods for the holidays! My son is moving out soon and will need lots of homemade goods from his mama! Thanks for the chance.

  126. My son loves to make snow ice cream and tends to blow through my Vanilla extract. If I win, I will put it in his Christmas stocking so he leaves my bottle of vanilla extract alone! Lol

  127. Hi Mavis,
    I use Vanilla in my daily Protein Shakes. It gives it a great flavor!! Also in my famous cookie recipes for my nieces and nephews. Happy Holidays to you and your clan.

  128. I have a great sugar cookie recipe that my family loves. Requires a good vanilla as that flavor is the star of the show in these cookies.

  129. Figured I would take out a loan to purchase vanilla this year. LOL Have my list of cookies and candies i will be making for goodie baskets. Neighbors already requesting gingerbread cookies and one actually wants one of my fruit cakes!!! Lot of baking going on in this grandmas kitchen.

  130. I would use the bottle of vanilla extract to REPLACE the beautiful bottle of Mexican vanilla that I dropped and broke all over my kitchen! I would make my family’s favorite pear custard with it!

  131. I’d bake and bake and bake! Chocolate chip cookies and a German chocolate cake are on my list to bake soon.

  133. I’d bake!! Actually my 12 year old son would bake and make breakfast goodies. I just help when he needs a hand, which anymore is not very often.

  134. We bake like crazy in this house and the price of vanilla is insane! So this would be extremely helpful for us 🙂

  135. I put vanilla in nearly all my Christmas cookies, glaze for cinnamon buns, and coffee cake. Thanks for the chance at this giveaway!

  136. I’ll make cookie, pies and cakes Oh my!! I can’t remember the last time I had real vanilla in my spice cabinet. The imitation stuff is what I’ve been using for so long I bet my family would love some real vanilla.

  138. I would use some of it for my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe and I would use some of it to make scented potpourri for my son’s teachers!

  139. Use for my Christmas baking, Shortbread, GibgerSnaps, Toffee , Thumbprint Cookies and ButterRum Peacans to start off my baking .

  140. Every Friday we host a fellowship night at Freedom Worship Center Los Lunas, New Mexico, for men and women recovering from substance abuse. I bake a double batch of cookies for them. I go thru a lot of flour, sugar and vanilla. I will continue as long as I can. These young people are all like my kids now.

  141. I would make cream cheese cookies. Which are like cream cheese frosting in sugar cookie form! Wonderful

  142. Good Morning! First, I would take a sharpie and put the date on it so I can see how long I can make it last! Bread pudding and hot chocolate with my mom would be the first two things on the list! Thanks!

  144. What a fun and practical giveaway!

    My two daughters and I have a lot of holiday baking to do and that vanilla would definitely be put to good use!

  145. I would use it in all my holiday baking. I’ve kept a list over the last few months of everything I’m going to make when the family is all together for the holidays.

  146. Food for thought. McCormack doesn’t identify where they source their vanilla, so potentially multiple sources are used. In which case, there’s a good chance they are using vanilla grown and processed by child labor.

  147. This would be wonderful! I feel like I’m always running out of vanilla. I would put that bottle to good use baking up some Christmas desserts!

  148. I’ll be baking cookies this holiday season. Since I’m unlikely to use it up in the next couple of weeks, I’ll also be baking birthday cakes and birthday cupcakes for the spouse and youngest kid.

  149. I would totally bake a bunch of Christmas cookies and make some homemade sugar scrub with the vanilla, if I win. Love the smell of vanilla! Thanks for the opportunity!

  150. Oh I will certainly use it to make my famous almond biscotti! Now that we live in a neighborhood I plan on handing out cookie trays to our neighbors 🙂

  157. We would put that vanilla to good use here. My husband wants us to make holiday treats in the evenings – he is really into making cookies right now. We like to give them away by the plate full to local folks – like the hard working guys at our local Les Schwab that do our tire change outs during snow rush!

  160. Vanilla is my favorite flavor fo I use it in everything! Vanilla shake with extra vanilla, chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate cake.

  163. I would use the vanilla in my homemade granola. You can use less sugar with an ample amount of vanilla.

  165. There are a lot of options that I would go with. Vanilla milk is popular in this house, but I do a lot of cake and cookie baking. Maybe I’d start with a simple vanilla cake.

  166. I have a special cookie recipe that I have modified to make it even better … My secret? More vanilla!!! My kids teachers at school always get extra love from me (teachers in parochial & charter schools are severely underpaid!!) because they always go above & beyond for their students! I “love” our teachers with treats & thank you notes all year round! They would benefit from me winning the vanilla.

  169. I’m just starting a baking business and I would love to have some vanilla that didn’t negate what I just got paid for my last cake! 🙂 I remember the days when I could measure into the lid and throw in an extra teaspoon here and there with abandon! Now I treat it like the most precious thing in my kitchen.
    Also, it’s a very foggy day here and I really want to make snickerdoodles.

  170. Thanks for the great giveaway Mavis. Baking is my top choice. The American Diabetic Association has a low sugar sugar cookie recipe that is really good. I would give the second bottle to a deserving baking friend.

  171. I will use the vanilla in the frozen cookie dough I make as gifts. Usually chocolate chip coconut oatmeal.

  173. Christmas cookies for Santa and all the elves of course!!
    Thanks for doing this- I LOVE your blog- you have kept me sane through many a life challenge:)

  174. I would use it since I’m almost out! I had an epic fail on a new recipe last night so I have to keep trying to fill the freezer for the upcoming need. Thank you for the fun website!

  175. A couple days ago I went with my chef ( not professional) son to costco to stock up on a few things, talking on the way about what we wanted to make, bake for christmas gifts etc. Lots of those included vanilla, of course! When we went down the baking aisle and he saw the price of vanilla, he literally laid his head on his hands on the buggy handle. I told him I had a little of my homemade vanilla left that I could share…..So he would definitely get any vanilla I won!!! Thats really a sweet thing for you to do for your readers, Thanks Mavis

  178. Vanilla goes in pretty much every sweet treat I bake, and I bake a lot – cookies, brownies, cakes, etc.

  179. Bake Christmas cookies with my Sunday School Class for giving away with our Christmas Food Baskets.

  180. I would make chocolate cookies with it first! I’ve been leaving the vanilla out of chocolate goods to try to make it last longer.

  181. I will use it for baking. My granola recipe calls for 2 Tablespoons, so I can go through it pretty quickly! Plus lots of Christmas cookies to come!

  183. Thanks for the opportunity Mavis! There so many things that I would use the vanilla for: Butter Pecan Fudge, Sugar Cookies, we also like to add a little bit of vanilla and cinnamon to steamed milk for a nightime drink 🙂

  184. Great give away! Thank you!
    I would use it for baking.
    You mentioned putting some on your wrist – My grandmother was born in 1899, was the eldest of eight, raised in the South, married her sweetheart upon his return from WWII. She often told me she knew girls who used vanilla behind their ears AND pinched their cheeks; SHE didn’t but knew girls who did! 🙂 I only ever saw her use face powder, occasionally a lipstick, no other makeup. She was a beautiful woman inside and out!

  185. Thanks for this giveaway if I won I’d use it for vanilla lattes, christmas cookies, and morning oatmeal. Oh who am I kidding I use vanilla all the time for cakes, muffins, pastries of all kinds, you name it.

  186. My daughter and I will continue baking with Vanilla. We have a Chocolate Chip cookie recipe that is extra yummy because it has lots of vanilla in it.

  187. Baking all those Christmas cookies that I only make this time of year! We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel and the kitchen only has newly plaster walls and a rough floor. My husband said he would hook up the stove so I could do some baking. I won’t have counters or sink but I would have a stove!

  188. I’d use the vanilla in my grandmother’s recipe for fruit cocktail cake, my mom’s chocolate pie, and my other grandmother’s super weird Christmas balls made with Tang!

  190. I’d use it to bake hundreds of sugar cookies. I have an annual cookie party. I bake all the roll out cookies and 10 friends and I get together every December and decorate. Everyone takes home what ever they decorate. Of course each year we have a ‘signature beverage’ too. So much laughter! We are in year 12. The best sugar cookies have REAL butter and REAL vanilla.

  191. I could make so many things! Pumpkin pie, banana pudding and chocolate chip cookies are on my mind today!

  192. Help!! I am baking for gifts out of state and as I pulled out 10 pounds of flour and 7 pounds of sugar, I realized I have 2 drops of vanilla left in my huge old bottle. Holy cow is the timing on your giveaway perfect.

  196. I think most of all my baking calls for vanilla and even if it doesn’t i frequently add it anyway!! SO the more vanilla in our house the better!!!

  198. I’m obsessed with making meringues right now so I will make that and, of course, all the cookies!!!

    Thank you!

  199. Definitely bake! It’s just me and my husband but that hasn’t stopped me from backing a TON of cookies for the holidays and I always like to try 2-3 new recipes too. This would probably last me a couple of Christmases – lol!

  200. So I have about three recipes using vanilla that I make about once a week….all the time basically. Almond flour pancakes, almond flour shortbread cookies & grain-free pumpkin muffins. Needless to say I go through the vanilla!

  201. To me, vanilla is like butter, I can.not. bake without it and I am willing to scrimp somewhere else in order to have LOTS of vanilla and butter!! Everything’s better with vanilla! 🙂 Thank you for the giveaway!

  202. I would use the extract in my Christmas baking! Every year I take several days off of work and bake fudge, cookies, cakes, breads, candy… the list goes on. And you can’t use imitation vanilla it just doesn’t taste the same.

  203. So nice of you to do this give away! I would use it to make dozens of Christmas sugar cookies with my daughter!

  206. I would give it away. My mom is always baking and only uses the “real stuff”. I’m sure she’ll send some pies and cakes my way.

  208. I’m currently baking lots of cookies, bars, breads, and cakes, for friends and various fundraisers. Many of these goodies are also enjoyed by a local shelter.
    Trying out some new seasonal cookie recipe next week.
    Thanks for this give away.

  210. I would be baking up a storm. I also add it to my granola recipie (which makes great gifts)

  212. Every year my grandson& I make my mother’s amazing chocolate fudge. He’s 12 now. It’s something he’ll have to remember always. As for the vanilla….well, you can’t make fudge without vanilla. Or at least you shouldn’t. I use vanilla in everything I bake. A big bottle ($30 @ Stater Bros.) is most definitely not in my budget. So, I hope I win.
    Merry Christmas to All & may all your cookies be perfect.

  214. I would use the vanilla to bake raspberry jam peanut butter thumbprint cookies for my husband. He is so good to me all year-he deserves them!

  215. Thanks for the giveaway! Doing lots of baking Christmas cookies with the grandkids. Our favorite is making Gingerbread Men cookies to decorate.

  217. I would give the bottle to my granddaughter who is in college and learning to cook and bake for herself.

  218. I would use the vanilla to bake cookies. I am nearly out of my real vanilla and I refuse to pay the current price, so I will soon be baking with the fake stuff.

  219. Baking Baking Baking!!!
    We have some favorites including Thimble cookies, and whiskey caramels. Yummmm

  221. I would use it in all my Christmas baking/cooking….cakes, cookies, pies, candies, bread pudding, cinnamon rolls. I almost always add an extra “splash” to whatever my recipe calls for! Thanks so much for thinking of us!

  222. I’ve got lots of pumpkin, so probably some pumpkin muffins and bread. We also like baking your poppyseed muffin recipe. I tried a giant chocolate chip cookie recipe and it’s so good and so easy to make. My 10 year old can make it with very little help from me. We’ve probably made at least a dozen 12 inch cookies over the past few months.

  224. I will bake, bake, bake and then bale some more! I just upgraded my KitchenAid mixer and have yet to give it a go.

  227. Oh, Mavis, I would use vanilla in making cut-out cookies with my Grandkiddos! It is so much fun baking with children. Their imagination is boundless and really is a bonus when decorating the cookies! Keep Smiling…and bake onward!! 🙂

  228. First I would use it to make delectables for friends and family. Then I would share it with said friends and family so they could make their own delectables! (Yes, spell check has informed me that delectable cannot be pluralized. It’s the holiday season spell check, let’s just be merry and eat some delectable cookies.)

  229. I do a lot of canning…so quite a few teaspoons will be going in the recipes.

    I lucked out a couple years ago and bought a huge batch of vanilla beans and then made enough vanilla for 3 peeps to get it for Xmas, do you think I kept any for myself? Nooooooo and of course, that is when the prices went through the roof.

  230. Cookies as presents, Great British Bakeoff wannabe cakes, and flan! This would get close to daily use.

  231. This is easy — GIVE IT AWAY. A couple years back, I saw that same 16 oz bottle of McCormick’s pure vanilla extract at Walmart, and the shelf price was **$8.00**. I bought 3, kept 2, and mailed one to my daughter who loves to cook & bake for her family. About a year ago, she said to me, “Mom, if you ever want to get me another present, I’d love another bottle of that vanilla!” So I went shopping and about fainted at the increase in prices! She would be thrilled to get this, as buying it herself is definitely not in the budget. (What a terrific give-away for you to do, Mavis!)

  235. Well since my husband loves vanilla I think I would dab a little behind my ears and see if it gets his attention. Every little bit helps you know 🙂 The rest I would use for baking!

  236. Oh my! I would love to bake batches of Christmas shortbread cookies with my 2 children. I would then deliver them to struggling inner city residents so they too could enjoy the Christmas season 🙂

  238. First I would do a happy dance if I received a free 16oz bottle of vanilla. Then I would bake your one-bowl chocolate chip cookies (the recipe with baking soda in water), sub out toasted pecans for the walnuts, then eat the cookies warm out of the oven.

  241. My daughters and I would use the vanilla in that wonderfully large size bottle of vanilla to make Christmas cookies, apple pie, banana bread, cake in a mug, and so many other recipes it would take more space than I have here to list them all.

  243. With Christmas coming up, I will be baking my chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread cookies, and trying a new recipe using pecans and trying my hand at a instant pit cheesecake.

  247. What a thoughtful idea Mavis! I’d enjoy this yummy vanilla to make boat-loads of my Moms delicious recipe of English Toffee for Christmas giveaways. I enjoy giving a little something homemade to those that provide services all year (the post-ladies, paper carrier, nail tech, UPS guy etc). Merry Christmas to you and the Puggle Princess!

  248. I use vanilla in a lot of things, but I would start using this for a treat platter to share with my family during our annual Christmas get together. Thanks for your generosity and for making two people very happy!

  249. We would bake with it, we currently have a bottle of the imitation McCormick’s, but nothing beats the real stuff. Cookies & fudge would be number one on the list.

    Thank you!!

  252. Pumpkin choc chip cookies!!! Same answer that I had for the last giveaway. 🙂 Some things are just that good.

  255. I’m not a baker, but my 85 year old Mom has dementia and I’m trying to make Christmas as wonderful for her as I can, so I will be baking Christmas cookies with vanilla!

  258. I will keep it under lock and key and occasionaly let my kids bake with it. Kidding! (maybe not :))

  259. Oh my goodness, what a great giveaway! 🙂
    I’m a vanilla purist; I use it in all of my baking (quick breads, cookies, cakes, etc) & frosting recipes. In fact, I’m whipping up a batch of cookies when I get home from work this afternoon. Woo-hoo!
    I’ll also (sometimes) add a dash into my coffee. Supper yummo and decadent.

  260. I’m totally making your chocolate chip cookie recipe! It’s been a while since I’ve made a batch, and every time I do everyone loves them and wants the recipe 🙂

  261. We do the vanilla pear coffee cake from your blog on Christmas morning. Also I don’t like almonds so I sub vanilla for other baked goods.

  263. I am retired teacher now so I like to bake for neighborhood, family and friends. They love banana bread, ginger snaps and chocolate chip best. I would give one bottle to a soup kitchen or food bank.

  264. Other than cakes, smoothies, etc., I found a new use for vanilla that I really love. Put several dollops of reduced fat sour cream in a bowl and mix in a bit of vanilla extract (to taste), then I add stevia to sweeten (again to taste). It is such a treat on fresh fruit. If you try it, hope you and readers enjoy it as much as I do.

    Thanks for your contest – starts the seasons off with a lot of fun.

  269. I’ll be making cookies and cakes now, ice cream in the summer! Seriously, what a great giveaway

  272. I’ll be making cookies and cakes now, ice cream in the summer! Seriously, what a great giveaway
    (I hope this doesnt post twice as there was a site malfunction.)

  275. I just purchased that very same bottle of vanilla for my 94 year old mother who lives in a retirement home and bakes cookies for all of her neighbors. Sadly I have about 2 teaspoons left of my own vanilla stash so a new supply would come in handy when my scone cravings overtake me.

  280. I would give it to my daughter, who is a teacher, and makes hundreds of delicious cookies to give away at Christmas! (She gives some to me, so it would be win/win! )

  281. The real question is, what won’t I bake with it! 🙂 My husband’s favorite is chocolate chip, but there are so many other seasonal treats we make, so those might have to wait for January.

  285. At the ripe old age of… well, let’s just say, at my ripe old age – I have just gotten into baking. The kids have been grown and gone for quite a few years and I don’t know what took me so darn long! It is wonderful and fun and oh so exciting to see what I can make. Most of the time, it is pretty darn delicious as well. I would love to win the vanilla and find a great new recipe to try out.

  286. Real extract will last for years! Not that it will last that long because there are pound cakes to be made. Thanks for the giveaway

  287. I would share with my 2 sisters because we 3 gather at 1 house and bake all weekend. Cookies, pies, cakes, breads, you name it we probably bake it! Especially orange cookies, molasses cookies and the required ton of chocolate chip, oatmeal amd peanut butter cookies.

  288. I use so much darn vanilla!

    We eat pancakes from scratch every day or steel cut oats – both with vanilla. Then there’s the other items that need it like my Funky Mumkey smoothie, diy cocoa, and all the baked good what we LOVE!

    Thank you Mavis for finding the hot deal!
    We looooooooooove you and Lucy!

  291. I bake between 5-9 kinds of cookies every year for our annual New Year’s Day Open House (it’ll be the 39th year this coming January, in 4 different cities/homes): Cranberry Ecstasy Bars; the VERY best chocolate chip cookies in the universe; Bourbon Balls for my friend Ros, who would kill me if I didn’t make them; Cornmeal Chocolate-Dipped Sandy Cutouts; Chocolate Mint Thumbprints; Lemon Snowballs. Sometimes, if time and energy allows, I bake a Pumpkin or Triple Chocolate Cheesecake. Just about every one of those recipes requires vanilla, so I sure could use a new bottle. I would thank you kindly, and so would my guests. Happy holidays!

  293. Wonderful giveaway! I would split the bottle with my daughter who is also a baker! I use vanilla all the time! I would use it in my molasses crinkles, my Christmas morning coffee cake and pumpkin muffins!

  294. I would put it in a gift basket I’m making for my 12 year old great niece. She is really getting into baking now.

  295. Vanilla, Vanilla, Vanilla – ah yes, that wonderful Vanilla!! I would love to use lots of vanilla in all my baking for those special loved one and all others this time of year. — One question for you: This contest is open to all residents on the planet…what about non-residents!! I’m sure you’d include them, too! 🙂 Cheers!

  296. I would bake Christmas cookies such as fig cookies, pizzelles, etc and stash some away for later baking and fever blisters. A dab on a fever blister when you feel it starting stops it right in its tracks!! If I have to use the artificial this year than I’m thinking about not baking this year!!

  297. Hi Mavis! We make a ton of candy to give away for Christmas every year. Fudge, fudge & more fudge, English toffee, peanut brittle, and assorted bonbons. Vanilla goes in almost all of it! =)

  298. I would bake all kinds of things! My mom gave me a stand up mixer for Christmas and I can’t wait to use it!! She gave it to me at Thanksgiving so I could do my holiday baking with it. Sadly my oven is broken so I have to wait to bake.

  301. Oooh – vanilla goes in so many things. I already promised my husband I’ll make your EggNog Pound Cake, which sounds amazing, but we also usually get together with friends and have a cookie decorating party – which means we crank out a lot of cookies. And of course you can’t make French Toast without vanilla.

    What a fun giveaway! Even if I don’t win I’m already pondering all my favorite vanilla-involved recipes!

  302. I would use it to bake shortbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing. Then I would take a swig, dab a little behind my ears, then turn on some music and dance around the kitchen in vanilla scented heaven.

  303. Christmas goodies!!!! For the first time, all our children and their spouses will be with us over Christmas—can’t wait!

    • I make my own vanilla and did up a huge batch in 2014 which I am still using up. I just leave the beans in and it gets better and better. Like the previous poster, I add it to pumpkin pie filling-I think it gives another dimension to the flavor. My mother buys a small bottle of McCormick vanilla extract about once a month and I cannot talk her into the big bottle (something about being 89 and not changing things up..) so, I would give her the vanilla an keep using my own. Thanks for your great blog, Mavis. It is the only one I look at on a daily basis.

  306. I so appreciate you! I will do my holiday baking, make some tapioca pudding, and French toast….to name just a few. And such a large bottle …ill share some with my daughter who loves to bake.

  307. I would give the vanilla to my daughter. She bakes Christmas cookies and gives them to co-workers, friends and family. She is a wonderful cook & I am blessed that she is my daughter.

  310. I love vanilla! I would put it in my coffee, my cheesecake I plan to make for Christmas, my potpourri I steep on the stove with cinnamon, Clove, orange and lemon, and make some low carb treats as well. I’m not above wearing some too!

  313. Hard to be original at this point! I have a cookie exchange, so would use it right off to bake a lot of exchange cookies. Last year we sent the cookies to Oregon, where my Mom is in a memory care home. The residents and staff really enjoyed them. The year before we donated them to a local Ohio nursing home. Funny- everyone always loves cookies. I think we ought to be donating all year round though! Cookies are as good in April and October as they are in December.

    PS I’ll have the exchange even if I don’t win the vanilla, so it’s okay

  314. I would make use it to make flourless peanut butter cookies to give to my new neighbors this holiday season.

  318. Christmas cookies & candies with my sister and nieces. Our mom (the girl’s Nana) past away in 2010 and our annual get together on my mom’s birthday in December to make holiday treats is a very special time for us. Old fashion cut out cookies (with lard), nut brittle, fudge, spritz cookie and more. I have a huge tote of mom’s/grandma’s cookie cutters packed and ready to go.

  319. I would use the vanilla for baking cookies, sweet breads, muffins, cinnamon rolls, I would also splash it in my morning oatmeal!

  320. I will definitely bake with it! I had to borrow some from my neighbor when I made my chocolate pecan pie at a Thanksgiving.

  323. Sugar cookies!

    Funny, I like it in baked goods, but don’t care for the smell in candles, lotion or any of the umpty-zillion products out there. It’s probably due to my mom loving it and having it all over… the overload just killed it for me.

  326. I would use the vanilla to bake cookies or quick breads.. I was also just eyeing your eggnog pound cake!

  327. I would share it with my 89 year old friend Lilly who makes the best pies & cookies to take to our potluck/game nite.

  330. I will be making cookies and muffins. I have gotten too cheap for real vanilla and bought imitation. Shh! don’t tell my mom, she might disown me 🙂

  331. Let my 15 year old baking fiend daughter, bake away w/o suggesting she use the artificial vanilla while I hoard the good stuff.

  332. Vanilla pudding, chocolate no bake cookies, sugar cookies, brownies, pound cake…….. the list goes on!

  333. What wouldn’t I make? Waffle dippers, add it to smoothies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin gooey butter cake!

  336. I think vanilla is in all of my Holiday baking recipes. Soon, it will be time to ramp up baking for the Christmas cookie plates that we give away. Neighbors, family friends, the Pastor, teachers, the local Police and Fire department, the Holiday meal the local community puts on for those who find themselves in hard times…and on it goes.

    My Mom started this and the recipe collection spans three generations.

    It’s fun to do (as long as you like baking), and great fun to see the smiles on delivery.
    Happy Kitchen time one and all!

  337. I would give it to my momma who is the queen of the kitchen and makes all of the cookies for the holidays along with her grandkids! ❤️

  338. Homemade pound cake that my family requests and also an heirloom recipe written by my mom (and framed on my kitchen wall) for Jumbo Raisin Cookies.

  340. I’d bake with it. Shortbread is on my baking list. I’ve resorted to imitation vanilla for the past several months because I refuse to pay Costco’s price!

  342. It wll make the holidays a little sweeter. I gift lots and lots of home baked goods. Pure vanilla extract is all I use in my baked goods. Sweet of you to have this contest. Good luck to all!

  344. I’d use it to bake cookies and yummy treats, then I’d ship them off to my son who is deployed overseas this holiday season.

  345. Gosh where would I start! I bake a lot in the winter but especially around the holidays. I like to make cookies, cakes and different breads like banana, zucchini and apple. I would also make a baked french toast for Christmas morning! I’m getting low on vanilla and have been dreading the day I will have to buy more so winning a bottle would be awesome!

  347. Happy Holidays Mavis!
    Greetings from Anacortes!
    I would give it to my 93 year old momma who had an absolute COW when I told her vanilla was $34 at Costco!!! She has one joy left in life (she says) and that is baking for her grandchildren!

  348. My devious plan is to place the vanilla in my mother in law’s stocking. She is a great cook and would put that bottle to great use for some yummy dessert…..which I would then indulge in.

  350. Since I’m taking over the baking of my Mom’s famous Banana, Apricot, Cranberry Bread I could use that big bottle of vanilla. Her recipe makes six medium size loaves at a time. She would always have several in the freezer. When she was ready to gift a loaf she would wrap them in a homemade washcloth and tie the four corners on the top of the loaf with a festive ribbon and a sprig of holly. Everybody loved it! Miss you, Mom. Happy to share recipe if anyone is interested.

  351. My mind is reeling with all the wonderful puns I could use … I do a lot of gluten-free, vegan baking and often use twice the vanilla of standard recipes to help mask some of the alternative flour flavors. I also love a small bit in my overnight oats! Amps up the flavor.

  352. Ice Cream!!!! I LOVE vanilla ice cream ( I make my own) and coffee ice cream should always have a dab of vanilla,too.

  355. I would get more serious about experimenting with SOS-free baking. If you don’t know what that means, here’s the translation: Sugar, oil, salt free baking. I know what you’re thinking: “How could anything be at all satisfying without sugar, oil or salt?” Well, I’m trying to have an open mind about that, because I too am asking that question, but I’m willing to give it a try.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  356. I would share it with daughter and Gdaughter with the hope that I would get some cookies that I did not have to bake

  359. I’d use it for baking holiday treats, and New Years’, and Valentine’s and as long as it lasts.
    Then I’d start a new batch of homemade vanilla extract.
    Really Mavis, I can’t believe you don’t make your own instead of paying those prices!
    And it’s so easy.

  364. I would use the vanilla for lots of Christmas goodie baking, for my homemade granola sauce, and I’d save some back for summer…just a dab on my chickens’ heads and it helps keep the Buffalo gnats away from them! Gotta keep the chickens happy!

  370. I would use it to teach my daughters the difference between real and imitation vanilla by all of us (5 daughters) getting together and baking for all of our families for the holidays.

  374. I would share the vanilla with my daughter who loves to bake and has a very low income right now. We highlighting cookies, fruit breads, and frosting for the required cinnamon rolls for Christmas. 🙂

  377. I would ask my husband to make me his….at least famous around here..
    Shortbread.
    As a good Scot..I love shortbread.
    Thanks for the offer.

  380. I would use it to bake all my pumpkin breads that I give away to the gals & guys at my hair salon, the food bank, my mom’s Hospice Team, etc. I bake anywhere from 50 to a hundred loaves…not the big ones! haha!

  381. I would put extra vanilla in the Dark Chocolate-Orange-Cinnamon-Cappuccino Brownies that I make during the holidays!

  382. Although it would be tempting be dab it on..vanilla is amazing, I would use it for my Christmas cookies, specifically my vanilla shortbread.

  383. We’re a gluten free house and so I make a lot of Rice Krispie treats for a quick dessert. I always add a little vanilla and it makes them super delicious!

  387. I prepare and serve dinner at a homeless shelter every Tuesday. I always make fresh homemade desserts for them to enjoy with dinner. They are always a hit and very much appreciated. Of course, real vanilla makes all desserts taste better!

  388. lots and lots of cookies that I will try not to eat. I do love vanilla! I always inhale it first and then big sigh!

  389. Cookies, cakes and candy for Christmas! My husband has Celiac, so I try to keep him gluten free and bake his stuff at home, but he continues to cheat. ‍♀️

  390. Wow! A lot of people are great bakers and really want to win that vanilla. Well, I used to always make my own vanilla but the beans are way too expensive right now, so will also try to win a bottle of vanilla as I am getting low on my homemade. I will be making chocolate covered cherries, banana bread and pizzelles. I’ve been craving good homemade chocolate chip cookies, so may have to add that to my list. Thank you for the opportunity to enter and just want you to know that I have really been enjoying your blog, especially after your big move. You’re very talented and your blog is always interesting and fun to read.

  392. 🙂 I would be making our Christmas Fudge recipe, The recipe makes 6 POUNDS of fudge and this chocolate fudge has a secret, Shhh!!! It includes Velvetta cheese. And it is crazy delicious.

  393. The possibilities are endless. Baking of course, in all the baking I do for gifts for friends and some strangers too.

    Thank you for providing the opportunity.

  395. Cookies and pancakes! My tiny bottle of vanilla extract is almost empty, so getting an awesome big one would be great! Thanks for doing this giveaway!

  396. I would definitely be using it for cookies! And cake, and frosting, and all sorts of other delicious goodies. (but mostly the cookies)

  397. We would love to have this for our annual cookie baking days. My son and I bake over 1000 cookies each year and give them away to friends and family.

  398. I will totally bake. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, sweet potato empanadas, and any other recipe I can find

  401. I love to use it in my homemade anti-aging face mask. But I add it to all my baking recipes and sweet breakfast foods as well.

  402. Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti for my son’s teachers, or, pt and speech teachers for the holidays!

  404. I bake year round for my husband and I plus sending baked goods home with my kids when they come to visit. I’d use it in cookies, cakes, homemade granola bars, frosting,etc. I’ve only ever used imitation vanilla so it would be neat to see the difference real vanilla makes.

  410. I’ll bake cookies and make fudge. ‘Tis the season! Thanks for the opportunity and for your wonderful blog!

  411. The price of vanilla extract has gone nuts for sure! I love to bake and go through it pretty quick. This time of year I use it in Orange Cranberry Bread and Egg Nog Cheesecake. Plus my kids and I each select a new cookie recipe to test each year so we can take our neighbors a nice variety of cookies. A little bit of vanilla makes baked goods better.

  412. First, I will definitely dab some behind my ears so when I’m being smooched there’s a nice surprise. Then I will use the rest in homemade vanilla caramels!

  413. During the holidays are do all kinds of baking. I make pound cake, 7 to 8 kinds of cookies and chocolate cream pie. All of which require vanilla. My favorite flavoring. I give most of the cookies away to family and friends.

  414. I use vanilla extract in the peanut brittle I give for gifts. I also use it in baking and other candy recipes.

  416. I would make cookies to send to my son and my daughter who live very far from me. They like to get cookies in the mail especially my son who lives in Alaska. I’ve followed you (lurked) for several years and now I also follow you in Instagram. I love your blog! This is the first time I’ve ever entered one of your giveaways.

  419. I bake at least 3-4 times a week year round..more during the winter holiday months. So, yep, I would use it to bake.

  420. I know it seems blasphemy to some, but I’d make some vegan chocolate chip cookies. They truly are delish.

  423. Cookies, pancakes, icing, waffles…I use it in so many things! We love vanilla! My kids love to open the bottle a take a long sniff, it smells so good! Thanks for the chance!

  424. I would gift to my husband as this is his “secret” ingredient in his famous from scratch pancakes. Hoping he will make more of them in 2019 🙂

    Happy Holidays to you and yours.

    Jayne

  426. I will be making pecan tarts for my husband who is in the hospital recovering from a traumatic brain injury. It is my grandmother’s recipe and he loves them. Happiest of holidays, Mavis! I love your blog.

  429. Wow! What an impressive response to the Vanilla Give Away! Everyone must feel the same way, like you’re giving away Gold Coins! Like so many have said, I will be baking cookies. I’ll be baking the handed down favorites recipes and new recipes that I’ve clipped and saved. Many to keep, many to give away and many, many to sample as they come out of the oven!

  430. I use it in my cheesecake, cookies, whipped cream, pancakes and waffles. Thanks for doing this giveaway. Vanilla prices are crazy right now and I am almost out. That looks like a huge bottle so it would last a long time.

  432. Pumpkin muffins! Got the recipe off your blog years ago and it is our breakfast 3 mornings a week all year long. It’s always pumpkin season in our house!!!

  434. I would use it in almost everything!! I love vanilla extract and the size of those bottles in mind blowing!! If we are lucky enough to get snow it would be a great add in to make vanilla snow cream:))

  435. Mavis!!! How thoughtful of you!!!
    I’d keep it for sure for all the holiday baking ahead. Tea cakes, gingerbread, your eggnog pound cake, sweet potato anything….

  436. All of my recipes are lined up and all but one use vanilla. That bottle would sure come in handy.

  437. Vanilla, what would we do without vanilla? I will be making so many things. Do you know that Julia Child even puts some vanilla in her applesauce recipe? I will be making many things for the holidays with vanilla – Bread Pudding Muffins, Pumpkin Whoopie pies, Fruitcake bars with dried cherries and brandy (and vanilla of course).

  439. I have been wanting to take food to the homeless in my area for some time.
    with it being the Christmas season and your give away, together that would
    be my inspiration to bake some goodies to take on my first trip (I hope of
    many) to the homeless. Thank you Mavis for all your inspiration. This
    giveaway will put us all in good spirits for this beautiful time of year.
    hugs to you and the Puggles

  441. I love vanilla extract. I would use it in a savory recipe for vanilla balsamic chicken thighs….and then all of the usual baking recipes. I especially love it in homemade whipped cream. Yum!

  443. I would walk next door and gift this vanilla to my son-in-law. He’s teaching his sons how to bake and it’s a busy, hilarious kitchen filed with love.

  445. I would make my Pumpkin Fudge for my old boss and a pound cake for oldest grandson coming home for Christmas!!

  450. So many comments-hope that is encouraging to you! My hubby can’t have gluten or dairy, but we’ve made, get ready for it, CAULIFLOWER frosting for a chickpea cake! It’s yummy and real vanilla would make it even better! We also use it in coffe (coffee is life!)

  451. I don’t do much baking…it would probably take me 5 years to work through that bottle! But I would still enjoy it. (Most likely it would go to use while whipping up French toast!)

  453. I’d add it to my baking cupboard, although I do make my own vanilla extract. 750 ml of vodka + 3 vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped into the bottle. I go through approximately 2 bottles of homemade vanilla each year, so more vanilla would be used.

  454. So many ways I use vanilla extract! In Christmas cookies I make with my kids to give to neighbors, in homemade eggnog, in homemade mochas, in holiday pies, sometimes even in homemade hot chocolate.

  456. Four generations will gather in my niece’s kitchen to bake cookies from old family recipes and new recipes we can’t resist trying.!!! How blessed are we!

  457. Tis the season for baking cookies! I would be putting it to good use on all my sweet mothers cookie recipes!

  458. Honestly, I’d squirrel it away to use in my own special concotions, warm drinks, favorite desserts, etc. The kids can use the imitation vanilla I’ve been buying for the past year or so. 🙂

  461. I’ll be teaching my daughter how to bake our favorite Holiday cookies and this would help develop many pans of deliciousness!

  463. Snow ice cream would be good! Supposed to get some snow early next week! Huge bottles would also be terrific for key lime cheesecake bars with a buttery shortbread crust. Just in time for my husband’s 45th birthday “cake” of choice. Thanks!

  464. All the holiday treats that are to come! Ginger snaps, cracker toffee, sugar cookies, cheesecakes, snickerdoodles …etc etc 😀

  465. Snow ice cream, supposed to snow early next week – eek! Also key lime cheesecake bars with a buttery shortbread crust. This is my husband’s “cake” of choice for his upcoming 45th birthday in less than two weeks. Super big bottles.

  466. I would give the vanilla to my college age son who has discovered baking is a great stress reliever. He lives with three roommates and they cook in the “kitchen that never sleeps”. So named, because there is always someone cooking something there. My son loves to bake his grandma’s pound cake recipe.

  467. I live in a “colony” of Veterans, many of whom are widowed and live alone. I enjoy baking cookies, muffins, etc. and also making home made soups for them. So many baked goods, so much vanilla. I could sure put it to good use. Thanks for the contest Mavis.

  468. Hi Mavis, I’ll tell you what I would make and I bet you haven’t heard of this recipe. I placed my order today for beef fat, which I will render down to make Lardy Cake. It is actually a sweet bread with dried fruit & peel of British origin that I make only once a year. Happy Holidays 🙂

  470. English Plum Pudding-family recipe 🙂 I am the 5th generation to make this for our family at Christmas.

  471. Christmas cookie baking with daughter, daughter-in-law, and four grandkids. I only have a half an inch left of my several year old Costco bottle!

  474. Oh! Wonderful! We are rationing vanilla at the moment! I love a tiny bit in hot cocoa. Vanilla makes chocolate seem chocolate-ier.

  475. I’d use it in baked goods for sure but also for Dark Chocolate Avocado pudding! This time of year it’s fun to add crushed candy canes and freeze in it a loaf pan. It’s a (mostly) healthy treat!

  476. I have an old apple tree in my front yard. I can make the best applesauce ever by just throwing them in a crock with VANILLA & cinnamon! I thought COSTCO had reduced the price on their vanilla the last time I was there, so I grabbed a bottle. But when I got to the checkout, the cashier said “just want to make sure you know the price of the vanilla, because some people are confused” (fix your sign!). When he said it was over $34 I told him to take it off. So, if I win, I can get that vanilla back in to more batches of applesauce! thanks!

  477. We are having a big holiday dinner. It’s something we haven’t had in quite a while . Oh my, where to start ! French toast casserole. Cookies, pies and cakes . Banana nut bread made with cream cheese . So many treats and so many loved ones to share with.

  478. OMG, Mavis, there must be hundreds of comments for this wonderful giveaway. I know it will be really hard to choose.

    I’ve got my mom’s original 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book (I won the toss with my sisters after mom and then dad passed away and we were dividing up the family treasures we wanted to keep.). It has been well used and well loved, and it shows it.

    This cookbook brings back many cherished memories of mom baking wonderful things to eat, but that is especially true of her coconut cream pie. But my sister is the pie queen now and I stick mostly to cookies. And since Christmas is fast approaching, I would use the McCormick vanilla to make candy cane cookies out of mom’s cookbook. We made them every Christmas, mainly to decorate the tree. They looked so festive against the dark green background of the tree — for about two days, and then the tree would start looking more and more sparse. I guess with four kids, we just couldn’t help ourselves!

    I now have over 150 cookbooks of my own, but I still go back to Mom’s 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book for several of the tried and true recipes.

    Thanks, Mavis. A big bottle of McCormick vanilla is an awesome giveaway. That is the best vanilla on earth and it’s all I have ever used.

    • I am one of Sherry’s sisters and I echo everything she said about our mom and us using the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. I have a 16 ounce bottle of McCormick’s Pure Vanilla Extract that I purchased a few months ago when the price was not as high as it is now, so I hope Sherry wins this grand prize.

  482. Of course there will be many cookies baked with this vanilla! But also, multiple batches of homemade cream puffs. And a few of my mom’s Italian Cheesecake recipe. And just in case the kitchen doesn’t smell good enough with all that baking, I may take one tiny drop and rub it on the lightbulb in my living room. When the light’s turned on, the heat from the bulb will make the entire living room keep the baked goods scent indefinitely! (And don’t think I wouldn’t dab a bit on my wrists so I can carry the scent with me wherever I go! It’s about as expensive as French perfume, right?!)

  483. The grandkids have been helping me cook. They love the mixing part (especially cracking the eggs). We need vanilla! Seriously thanks for the chance.

  484. I would love to get this vanilla, to help me make Saint Nicholas day cookies. On the night of December 5, Saint Nicholas day eve, Saint Nicholas comes and put cookies in your shoes that have been left outside your door. Of course, Saint Nicholas uses Ziploc bags so the cookies can be eaten for breakfast on Saint Nicholas day! This requires baking all of your holiday cookies early, and I would totally use the vanilla for this!

  486. The vanilla would be added to cakes, cookies, bars, drinks, etc, etc, etc! Most of the baked goods would be given to family and friends.
    Thanks for the giveaway!

  487. Love vanilla!! Being on a budget, I’ve been using the fake stuff and it isn’t quite the same.
    I love adding a little vanilla to the coffee grounds, it adds flavor and makes the house smell like I’ve been baking!

  488. Both of my daughters have birthdays in December, so I would use the vanilla to make birthday cakes, of course. Cookies need to be made for my best friend’s annual cookie exchange. And the hundreds of cinnamon roles I make to give away to just about everybody I know!

  490. After 8 long years I finally became a mom this year and decided to stay at home and raise my little man. This bottle of vanilla would go a long way on making all kinds of yummy bresents for everyone on my Christmas list. I’d also love to bring it to my grandmother’s to add to our cookies we make every year.

  493. My daughter loves to cook so I’ll give it to her so she can fill our cupboards with lots of yummy baked goods!

  498. Thank you, thank you!! Vanilla extract is expensive but good quality/brand really makes a difference so my fingers are crossed.

    I love adding a few drops to my oatmeal. I also have been making healthy baked goods for me to have as snacks and I would add this to all of them! 🙂

  499. I was surprised by how many comments are here!

    I use vanilla in my singing canary drink. Love, love, love vanilla!!! Love, love, love your blog!!!

  500. I my to make my husband homemade panettone bread for Christmas! And bake some holiday cookies with my oldest daughter. She just started getting interested in baking so I want to keep the interest going!

  501. I’m probably the weirdo in the bunch, but I’d put a few drops in a pot of water with any past their prime, sliced fruits and make my own air freshener.

  502. I love putting vanilla in my jams. I’d probably do some cranberry citrus jam with vanilla and nutmeg.

  505. I would use it in my baking……I seem to do alot of that! I love to do it, and my family loves to eat the finished product!! AND my birthday is the 7th, so wouldn’t that be fun to receive a bottle of vanilla from Mavis on THE day!! 🙂

  506. I would use it to bake more goodies…..I love to bake, and my family loves to eat the finished products!!:). AND, my birthday is the 7th, so wouldn’t it be fun to win a bottle from Mavis in THE day!!?! 🙂

  507. Everyone on my list is getting homemade cookies and pillowcases that I made. Had enormous medical bills this year so all will have to adjust to cut backs. My family has no little kids so this is how it’s going to be. Started baking already. I paid $10 for a tiny bottle of McCormicks Vanilla. Good Grief!

  508. I would use the bottle of vanilla for baking my Tres Leches cake for Christmas Eve and for all my various holiday cookies! Thanks for offering this great giveaway!

  510. What a fun giveaway!! Oh so many things I use vanilla in….thumbprint cookies, eggnog, my bourbon vanilla cranberry sauce, french toast, you name it, I put vanilla in it!

  511. I would keep one bottle to make holiday gifts for family and friends and give the other bottle to my daughter.

  513. I usually bake cookies for my 96 yr. old friend, she likes chocolate chip cookies with the large semi sweet drops and the old fashioned raisin filled cookies. and she also likes date oatmeal muffins. I will use the vanilla for all of these. thank you mavis for the great recipes. today I made the cranberry apple jam for some gifts too. bonnie

  516. Well there’s always something baking at Nana Bean’s house! I seem to be the designated family baker. I would probably start with working on some of that pumpkin I stashed in the freezer from the halloween pumpkins and then get kickin’ on the Christmas cookies. I’m working double time on baked goods this year because I have just discovered that I am wheat sensitive. So I’m baking the gluten free stuff for me AND the wheat based stuff for everybody else. But I love it!

  521. To make homemade thick salted carmel sauce for holiday gifts and a generous supply for ourselves:)

  523. Homemade vanilla ice cream! Store-bought ice creams are so toxic… And keto cheesecake! Almond cake! Pecan dreams, gingersnaps…
    Vanilla is essence of heaven.

  524. I would bake dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies for our friends, neighbors, and family! What a wonderful giveaway!

  528. Oh sweet vanilla, without you life would be a shame,
    The best foods on earth wouldn’t be the same.
    Readers of Mavis I know can relate,
    Cakes, muffins, brownies, we are driven to bake.
    Vanilla, vanilla, you can’t be beat.
    The magical ingredient in all things sweet.
    I will use it in baked goods,
    I will splash it in my tea,
    Everything tastes better
    When you get it for free!

  529. You’re right about vanilla being so expensive!! I’m down to my last few teaspoons before I have to buy more. I bake “roll out” cookies for many holidays during the year starting with Valentine’s Day hearts and ending with Christmas cookies that I roll out, cut out with cookie cutters and then frost and decorate for each holiday. Then I package them up and send them to my Granddaughter. She always looks forward to “Mimi cookies”! If I don’t win, can you share where you got such a good deal on vanilla???

  530. I will use it for the standard cookie fare I do each holiday season, Snowballs, Peanut Butter pressed into holiday shapes, fudge, all different flavors, Caramel corn, plus I saw a new recipe for Egg Nog pound cake. I can’t wait to try that!

  531. I would use it to make my Mom’s picnic cake – an amazing buttermilk coffee cake that everyone loves!!!

  535. Cookies! I love to bake, but especially at Christmas! And cookies are my husband’s favorite treat, so he loves this season! Swedish crème wafers, here we come!

  537. Caramels for Christmas and I always add vanilla to my pancake and waffle batter! Nothing beats real vanilla! Thank you, Mavis!

  538. Caramels for Christmas and holiday giving, and I always use real vanilla in my waffle and pancake batter. Nothing is better than real vanilla. Thank you Mavis!

  539. This is really off the wall…but I use vanilla extract to teach my service dogs how to “find the car.” Some on their nose, some on the bumper, and we practice in parking lots. Works like a charm!! 😀

    Peace,
    Kyrie, Tao Blue SD AKC CGC CGCA CGCU TKN, Deja Blue SDiT AKC CGC TKN

  540. a friend brought me vanilla from Mexico last year and it’s almost gone, so I would just use it for all the baking! 🙂

  541. My son just baked Cowboy Cookies to bring in as a thank you at his summer job. We are almost out and they are the best cookies, we’d make more of them!

  542. Cookies, cookies, cookies, and more cookies. They are probably my favorite thing in the world to bake. Give me a snowy day, cookies in the oven, and Christmas on the way. That’s just about perfect!

  543. Lots and lots of cookies! I make cookies all year round. There is never a bad time for home made cookies.

  544. Oh My! So many things pop to mind, but I think the winner is I always add Vanilla to my homemade waffles and pancakes. A little bit of high quality vanilla makes all the difference! Also amazing to add to ice creams and snow creams from scratch.

  545. I’ll make as many Christmas cookies as I can, and give most of them away to family, neighbors, and if I make too many, even to strangers. 🙂

  546. A little vanilla mixed with water in a spray bottle makes an excellent “Monster Repellent”!
    When my son was small, he was afraid of the corners in the room and the closet at night so we would get out the ” Monster Repellent” and give the area a few light sprays. It lingered in the air long enough for him to safely drift off to sleep with the idea that no monsters would get him.

    My niece has 2 young ones that we use this trick for now- who knew it would be something to pass down?

    —I would also use some tasty vanilla to make cookies– my annual cookie exchange is right around the corner!

  547. I would use the vanilla to make cookies, but my kids and my husband would use it to flavor our weekend pancakes; I’ve had to cut them off lately since they use so much and it is SO expensive! Thanks, Mavis!

  548. Cookies & homemade buttermilk pancakes! We eat pancakes on a very regular basis, lately I’ve been making holiday shaped pancakes too (Bell, Nativity ornament, snowmen, Christmas trees.) ❤️ And my husband requests my chocolate chip cookies about every other week.

  549. I would give to my sister in law, who bakes all the time, especially this time of year. There is never a shortage of goodies in her home!

  550. Everybody loves vanilla. It took me half a day to scroll down the comments to make mine. I would use the vanilla to bake cakes and cookies. Maybe even to scent the room?

  551. I would use the vanilla extract to make frosting and cookies mainly. I enjoyed baking with my three children and we tend to really go through vanilla quite a bit!

  552. What a great giveaway! Chocolate chip cookies, rice pudding baked in oven and sponge cake

  553. If we win a bottle of vanilla extract, we’ll be making our favorite Mavis’ recipes: Apple Strudel Muffins, Super Moist Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Cheesecake Brownies, Chocolate Brownie Cookies and Cranberry Coconut Breakfast Cookies to name a few! We can smell the vanilla!

  557. I add vanilla to all my baked goods, whether the recipe calls for it or not! I’d definitely be baking with it!

  558. I would go crazy with Christmas baking! I feel like I haven’t really done much yet this season, and it’s high time.

  560. First on the baking list is peppernut cookies! Followed by sugar cookies. What a great give away!

  561. I would use this at my holiday baking party. Instead of a traditional cookie exchange party, I invite my friends over for a treat making party. Everyone has such a great time visiting, catching up, cooking together, goes home with an assortment of yummy treats.

  562. Every year during the holiday season, I have a friend over and we bake all day. We actually call it “baking day.” The day starts at 7AM. We bake cookies, mini loaves of cranberry pound cake and banana nut bread, peanut butter balls, Chex mix. For the majority of our goodies, vanilla is a consistent ingredient. All of our goodies are gifts for family, co-workers, friends and people who have been good to us throughout the year. The day is capped off by a nice dinner out!

  563. I would bake all my favorite Cookies, Cakes, and Pies to share with friends and family!

  565. Oh Mavis, you are so wonderful!! I would hoard it and use it sparingly for baking, especially for puppy chow!

  566. What a fun giveaway! I’d share half with my mom, then make all the cookies my kids have asking for with them!

  567. I’d keep one bottle to make cookies and cakes then donate the other to someone who would and could use it.

  568. Everything! Cookies, quick breads, waffles, pancakes, cinnamon rolls for slow Weekend mornings!

  569. I would use it for all my Christmas cookie baking of course! I am down to the last inch of extract in my bottle at home trying to wait out these prices! I did grab one bottle when you mentioned this deal last week but would love more to hold me over hopefully until prices get better!

  571. Got a error when clicking from my newsletter /pod….so not even sure how
    I got here to do the comment……vanilla….oh,yes….use it in cooking /baking
    cakes,cookies,candy and would sure share with daughter….,,as she does a
    lot more cooking than I do….Thanks for a chance to win!

  572. Thursday Dec 6th is my 50th birthday~ vanilla would be a very nice birthday present! I use vanilla in my custard rice pudding. The aroma that wafts up when you add that vanilla to the warm custard is heaven sent!

  574. I use vanilla all the time! If I won, it would bankroll my cookie/banana bread/cupcake baking habit

  575. I hope this is how we enter the give-away for the vanilla, I didn’t see any instructions about where.

    Tis the season for baking all kinds of goodies and I love to bake and give away. It would be great to have this ‘gift’ to aid in my giving!

  576. I would make all sorts of Christmas goodies for friends and family. Love all the goodies that I could make with that much vanilla!

  577. I haven’t bought real vanilla extract in years, what a treat! I would use it in my pound cake and shortbread recipes. Thanks Mavis!

  578. All sorts of baking, since I’ve become the only “baker” in my 3 generation family. Cookies are the top priority at Christmas time, I usually bake 12-15 kinds, sometimes doubling bathes. Everybody gets their favorite plus I like to try a few new recipes. Love your blog, and love that you are now in the New England area, I’m a Rhode Islander, born and bred.

  579. Talk about sticker shock during a recent shopping trip for vanilla!! I will use vanilla this holiday season for Christmas cookies and candy. I also use it weekly for baked oatmeal. Yum!!

  580. I would use some to make a simmering, smelly pot of goodness on my stove. I would use some to make cookies for our neighbors who have become close friends of ours. And would make cookies with my homeschooled kiddos to deliver to the post office and fire station. Lastly, I would make my husband a BIG batch of chocolate chip cookies because we have been doing low carb for a year and he hasn’t had a REAL sugar filled chocolate chip cookie in at least a year! Haha!

  583. I’d bake like the rest of the gang, although I’m still trying to figure out which recipes work at high altitude!

  589. I think it is bizarre that the bottle says, “No corn syrup. Gluten Free” When did pure vanilla extract have gluten and corn syrup?

    Anyways, I would use it to bake cookies and waffles.

    Thanks you for the Aldi German sweets giveaway last month, we have enjoyed it and it didn’t last more than a week in my house. I’m partly to blame, but once I put the “Cookies for Santa” plate out, I realized it needed some yummy edible decorations. I did hang the chocolate ornaments on a small tree and made it a tree of chocolate. It taunts my kids every time they walk by, with the large chocolate Santa as the tree topper watching them. So far, none of the chocolates have disappeared. Thanks again!

  590. So many cookies would be made. I call my husband the Cookie Monster because he needs his cookies!

  591. Though I no longer bake as much as I did in the past 40 (yikes) years, Vanilla would help a great deal! Thanks!

  592. try making a copy cat coconut pecan cookie recipe for my husband, and a sour cream pound cake for my mom.

  595. I’m definitely going to make cookies!
    I didn’t know about using it in place of perfume though..
    Thank you
    Diane

  597. Holiday baked goods and in my morning oatmeal. I love the real vanilla. I enjoy your posts

  600. Christmas cookies! This year I’ve been looking at my recipes to decide if they are worthy of the cost of vanilla.

  603. Tis’ the season for baking of course! The next thing on my list is Molasses cookies. I also love to use vanilla extract mixed with orange oil in my oil diffuser.

  606. Rich Roll Cookies, cinnamon rolls, shortbread cookies, various cakes, vanilla milk… I love baking!

  607. I put vanilla in every dessert I make, even if the recipe doesn’t call for it. A favorite of mine is an old fashioned warm banana cake with a simple glaze made of sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and a lot of good vanilla.

  609. we love vanilla, from whipping cream and icing to cookies and other holiday treats! best flavour ever!!

  614. I would give the vanilla to my daughter, she complains about the high price of vanilla everytime she has to buy it. She is baking on the side to supplement her teaching job, and is building several repeat customers. Maybe one day, if she owns a bakery, you could visit and write about her! Thanks for the give away.

  616. I would use it for all of the Christmas baking I want to do in the next 2 weeks instead of making my own vanilla extract (Grey Goose Vodka & Madagascar vanilla beans *both of which are CRAZY expensive!!!*).

    Merry Christmas to you & your family

  617. I make a wonderful pumpkin spice bread that is more bread than custard. My HH makes his grandmother’s spritz real butter cookies, as well as a killer snickerdoodle cookie of his own recipe! It would be wonderful to win a bottle of real vanilla!

Mavis Butterfield Etsy