A couple of years ago, I attended an event in downtown Los Angeles called Artisanal LA, where you can sample and shop more than 100 goods from local makers, crafters and chefs.  The first time I attended, my eyes were wide open and spent way too much money, but it was well spent.  I discovered items that I loved and wouldn’t have found if I had not attended the event.

Upon my many favorites, the one item I have continued to purchase is Vanilla Sea Salt from Hepps Salt Co. They have endless flavors of salt and sugar that will get any cooks’ mind flowing with ideas on how to use it.  Salted cookies are all the rage now, so I already knew one thing I’d do with it. Regular sea salt is good, but vanilla sea salt will provide an extra appeal that will be unmatched.

I will continue to buy it, however, after making my homemade vanilla extracts, I had some left over and thought I’d try to make my  own Vanilla Sea Salt.

I needed a last minute gift for my friend who loves to bake and thought this was a fun way to use it.  She loved the gift! The jars were purchased from Target in the dollar section a few months back.  The burlap bag is from a Shea Moisture Baby Bath set I had saved for a DIY project, such as this.  I already had the flaky sea salt as well, so the last I did was a take a trip to Sur la Table and purchase the wooden spoon.  Good thing I made enough for myself, because it is good!

There are two ingredients – Flaky Sea Salt and Vanilla Beans. I used about 4 vanilla bean pods and 2 cups of flaky sea salt.

First, I split the vanilla bean pods down the middle, lengthwise, and carefully scraped the tiny beans out, putting it on top of the salt.  Once I scraped out all of the desired beans, I gently hand-mixed the two together in the bowl, with gloves on. Then, I sealed the jar with an airtight lid. Feel free to increase the amount of vanilla beans if you’d like a more robust flavor.

Have you tried a salted cookie?  What is your favorite flavor combination? Please share in the comments below.

As always, please let me know if you try it.

Peace and Love!

Yasmin

*This is not a sponsored post for any company.  All photographs are shot by me for BloomingAugust.com