slice of vanilla cake with vanilla frosting - Nata_vkusidey/Getty Images We're all familiar with vanilla extract. It's called for in virtually every baking or dessert recipe, and it's probably the ...

Vanilla bean paste offers a richer, more complex flavor with visible specks that elevate both taste and presentation, while pure vanilla extract provides a subtler note that enhances other ingredients ...

I used to think vanilla bean paste was a lot like golf: vanilla and needlessly expensive. Why use paste that’s double the price of the extracts, especially when it boasts being a 1:1 substitute? But, ...

Vanilla is the foundation of all my favorite baked goods. It is an essential ingredient like salt, and its usual supporting role is to enhance and bring out featured flavors. Whether it’s part of the ...

Before it became the indispensable baking ingredient we know today, vanilla’s role was to improve the taste of medicines and to treat various ailments, and it was available from apothecaries. In the ...