Tried fancy organic vanilla extract vs the cheap grocery store stuff in my cookies

I made two batches of chocolate chip cookies last Sunday using my go-to recipe. One had the $12 bottle of artisanal vanilla from that shop downtown, the other used the $4 bottle from Walmart. Honestly? Nobody at my office could tell the difference. My coworker Jen said both were "perfectly fine." So much for that splurge. Has anyone else had a similar thing where premium ingredients didn't actually matter? Or am I missing something?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_wood8424d ago

$12 vanilla is a scam for baking.

vera_lewis224d ago

Yeah, "perfectly fine" is about the best you're gonna get with vanilla... I had a similar thing when I tried to get fancy with those hand-harvested sea salts. Paid like $15 for a little jar of grey salt from France and used it on my pretzels. My neighbor asked if I'd switched to table salt. So now I just use the Morton's and call it a day.

robin59124d ago

Oh man, I did the same thing last year with vanilla for my banana bread! @riley_wood84 is spot on - I grabbed a cheap bottle from Target and my family couldn't tell it apart from the fancy one I'd been hoarding. I've just been using the store brand ever since and nobody has complained once.