Danielle, there's really no good replacement for vanilla extract. Maple syrup may be aromatic in the same way vanilla is, but they're different aromas, different flavors. Plus the recommended substitutes I've seen don't make any sense; they say to replace vanilla with maple syrup 1:1, which means you'd replace 1 teaspoon vanilla with 1 teaspoon maple syrup — which would totally become lost in the rest of the ingredients, since the flavor of maple syrup is a notoriously difficult flavor to translate to baking; it's so subtle, it simply gets lost unless you enhance with manufactured maple flavor/extract. You could try using half the amount of almond extract, though again, it's almond flavor, not vanilla. You could also make your own vanilla extract from beans; if you can afford the beans, which are also expensive. Finally, you can just leave vanilla out of your recipe; you may miss its flavor for the time being, but let's just all hope the vanilla crop is better next year, and prices become more reasonable. PJH@KAF

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