How to Make Your Own Flavored Coffee Creamer

We use a lot of coffee creamer at our house and I normally have a steady supply of it on hand. Between my husband and I we like a number of different flavors from the Coffeemate and International Delight lines and we normally have two or three different flavors in our refrigerator.

I used to keep a jar of the instant creamer on hand for the rare occasions when we would run out of the liquid creamer. I always liked the liquid creamer better because it seems to have a richer and creamier texture. Then I found out that liquid creamers are somewhat healthier for you as powdered creamers have been linked to clogging your arteries. So, out went the powdered creamer that I had previously kept on hand.

Since I no longer keep powdered creamer on hand I had to come up with an alternative when we found ourselves without our regular coffee creamer one morning. Once you are used to the flavored creamers just adding milk and sugar to your coffee does not satisfy your taste buds. Luckily, I had a few ingredients on hand that I was able to combine to make a rather nice liquid creamer substitute.

The easier coffee creamer flavor to make is vanilla, especially when you aren’t planning ahead of time to have to make a creamer substitute. Almost everyone has some vanilla in their cupboard.

Vanilla Coffee Creamer Substitute

Ingredients:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in a jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Since we recycle we have the creamer bottles on hand even when we don’t have the creamer. I like to reuse these bottles for my homemade creamer since they have the convenient caps on them that make the creamer easy to pour. Be sure to shake the creamer well before each use.

To change flavors of your homemade creamer you can substitute the vanilla extract with any other that you like. I like using hazelnut, almond, peppermint, and coconut extracts. These are extracts I typically have on hand so when we run out of creamer I am not stuck with only making vanilla as a backup.

On the rare occasion that I have been out of extract I have made a two different coffee creamer that takes a bit more time to make, but have turned out to be more than worth it. They require heating so they aren’t ones that are a quick fix, but I do prefer my own amaretto and hazelnut creamers to those that are available in the store.

Amaretto Creamer

Ingredients:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup milk

1 ounce almond paste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium heavy saucepan. Cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Be extremely careful not to let ingredients scorch. Once the ingredients are combined remove from heat and allow cooling then store in a jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

You can substitute three vanilla beans (be sure to split them open and scrap the contents into creamer mixture then add the beans to the pan while cooking and removing the beans before storing) for the almond paste if you want to make a richer vanilla creamer than what you get with using the extract.

Hazelnut Creamer

Ingredients:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup milk

½ pound of shelled hazelnuts

Directions:

Soak the shelled hazelnuts in the milk for at least six hours. The longer they soak the stronger the flavor will be. Combine all ingredients in a medium heavy saucepan. Cook over a very low heat, stirring frequently. The heat will bring out the flavor of the hazelnuts so you want to cook it as long as possible without bringing the contents to a boil. Cook for 15 to 30 minutes, the longer it is cooked the stronger the flavor. Allow to cool then strain the liquid into a jar. Discard the hazelnuts (or save them for a different recipe) and store the creamer in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

No matter if you make your creamer with extracts or go the longer route that involves heating, these homemade creamers are on par with the creamers you can buy in the store and in some cases they are even better.

Enjoy!