Vanilla Bean is the best and most expensive way to add the vanilla taste to any recipe.  You can make

homemade vanilla sugar by tossing your leftover vanilla bean pods with the sugar of your choice.  Or scrape the inside of a vanilla bean pod into your sugar and add the pod to keep the flavor strong.

Combine a Vanilla Bean Pod (scrape the inside of the pod) and sugar (I like to use raw sugar for color and flavor) in a glass jar (again, airtight is best here!), and let the flavors mix and combine.  It’s great for adding extra flavor to coffee or tea. And, of course, any recipe that calls for sprinkling sugar on top before baking!