Ingredients

I just found out that vanilla extract is a greater part brandy than any other ingredient.  If you wanted to make it yourself it would be 1/2 cup brandy,  1/4 cup water and 2 crushed vanilla beans &  let  it stand for 3 days!  So - none of us can claim that we have never partaken of spirits!  Ho!   (You  would have to eat a lot of cookies to consume enough to fit in a shot glass though...And by that time the vanilla extract would be the least of your problems.)  :-)

It's amazing the things we tend to buy already made that we could easily  make ourselves....like chili powder, mayonnaise, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, etc. and of course, yogurt.  Even if we normally buy that stuff  ready made - it's kind of nice to know that if we're caught off guard without it  - we could still whip it up ourselves. We might even like it better!   It's nice to have someone else (like a factory) do some things, though.