Making your own lemon extract couldn’t be easier! All you need are lemon rinds, vodka, and time! It’s the perfect thing to whip up for the holiday season for yourself or to gift to your baking friends and family.
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I’m not particularly sure why it’s taken me so long to make my own extracts. I’ve made my own vanilla extract multiple times but this is the first time I’ve made other extracts. I love looking at all the various extracts and emulsions at Michaels, but at $10 per bottle, I don’t have the budget for very many. Especially ones I don’t use too often. And so, I decided to make my own. And it is oh so easy. All you need are lemon peels and vodka.
What is Lemon Extract Used For?
I like to use lemon extract anywhere that needs a little bump in lemon flavor. I especially like to use it when I happen to be out of actual lemons and thus don’t have any lemon zest. Some of my favorite recipes to use a little lemon extract are: lemon meringue pie, strawberry lemonade cupcakes, and my lemon sugar cookies. It also works well if you’re making homemade lemon ice cream because the vodka will keep your homemade ice cream from freezing too hard.
What is the Alcohol Content of Lemon Extract?
Well, the alcohol content of THIS lemon extract is whatever the alcohol content of the vodka you purchase to make it is. Google tells me the standard alcohol content of vodka is 40% by volume or 80 proof. But in general, we’re not planning to drink our lemon extract, just use a couple teaspoons in our cookie dough that will get burned off when we bake it.
What Does Lemon Extract Taste Like?
Lemony vodka. Which does not taste great on it’s own. If you buy lemon extract, it’s make with ethyl alcohol-tastes even worse. She’s not meant to be drank alone-put her in your cookie dough and move on.
Let’s talk ingredients:
We only need two. And one of them is basically garbage.
Lemon Peels: Organic if you can afford it. Peel the lemon but leave the pith (the white part) behind.
Vodka: Cheap will work just fine here.
How To Make Small Batch Lemon Extract:
- Peel your lemons. If you didn’t buy organic lemons, you can boil your lemons whole for a couple minutes to boil off the wax. To peel your lemons, take your peeler and gently peel the outside of the lemon, taking care to get as little of the pith as possible. We are just making a small batch of lemon extract so we only need to peel about 2 lemons or enough for about 1/3 cup.
- Put your lemon peels into a clean jar. Pour enough vodka into the jar to fully cover the lemon peels, about 1/2 cup.
- Wait. Lemon extract is ready in 2-3 weeks. How do you know it’s ready? After about a week, start smelling your extract. When it smells more like lemons than vodka, it’s ready.
- Strain out the lemon peels, cover and put back in your pantry. I just keep mine in a little ball jar but I bought some cute tiny jars to be able to gift some this holiday season.
Small Batch lemon extract
Equipment
- 1 potato peeler
- 1 small clean jar
- 1/3 cup measuring cup
Ingredients
- 2 organic lemons
- 1/2 cup vodka
Instructions
- Peel your lemons. If you didn't buy organic lemons, you can boil your lemons whole for a couple minutes to boil off the wax. To peel your lemons, take your peeler and gently peel the outside of the lemon, taking care to get as little of the pith as possible. We are just making a small batch of lemon extract so we only need to peel about 2 lemons or enough for about 1/3 cup.
- Put your lemon peels into a clean jar. Pour enough vodka into the jar to fully cover the lemon peels, about 1/2 cup.
- Wait. Lemon extract is ready in 2-3 weeks. How do you know it’s ready? After about a week, start smelling your extract. When it smells more like lemons than vodka, it’s ready.
- Strain out the lemon peels, cover and put back in your pantry. I just keep mine in a little ball jar but I bought some cute tiny jars to be able to gift some this holiday season.
Did you make this recipe? Tag me @bakincareofbusiness on Instagram so I can see what you made!
Happy Baking!
