Threshold

It's fairly easy to find alcohol free vanilla flavoring, but can be trickier to find some other holiday flavors...

But if you go to a local health food store they usually have a display of essential oils. These are pure, strong plant oils...essentially, the flavor without the booze!

You can find lemon, orange, peppermint,clove,anise, spearmint at just about any health food store. Or you can order on line.

Not ALL essential oils are safe for consumption. Some are toxic or merely too strong to ingest, so don't assume all are safe, but the one's mentioned above are safe used as flavorings in food.

About eight drops replace a tsp of flavoring in most cases. The bottles usually have a dropper tip built in.

ScottFromWI

Citrus zest is another alternative to extracts for many recipies, and cheap. Fresh puréed mint leaves are also an option

Marcher13

Good topic at this time of the year Threshold! I cook a lot and, if I say so myself, pretty well. With meat and vegetable dishes I find that stock can substitute for alcohol with no loss of flavour whatsoever and something a little acidic tenderises -- lemon juice is always a win in this respect. With sweet dishes you can intensify flavour by caramelising fruit. In other dishes reducing actual sugar content and instead using a little maple syrup, rice syrup or honey can get great flavour. Have a look at the old fashioned flavourings of the middle east: orange blossom and rosewater are stunnng but make sure you get the real thing.

mecanix

Pomegranate or cranberry juice is a good replacement for red wine .( thanks pamel)

Vanilla , why bother with essence when you can get vanilla pods ? … scrape out and put the seeds in a blender with whatever butter your using for baking …

m