Homemade Coffee Creamer





At work we have free coffee provided to us, along with all the coffee-mate we could ever want. The problem is, store bought coffee creamers tend to have more ingredients than god, but I don't always want just plain milk or half-and-half.  I want something with flavor, but not enough to be overpowering.  I want a creamer that isn't half sugar and doesn't have 35 ingredients and a shelf life of 14 years.

Behold: The Homemade Creamer.

It's pretty simple, but if you want to add more than a little sugar to your creamer, you'll have to get a bigger container than the one you start out with, and frankly, I'm too lazy to do that.  By keeping the original container, I know exactly when it will expire anyway.

I don't recommend using making than what you will use in a week or two, since real cream and half-and-half go bad fairly quickly once opened.

What you need:

1 pint or half pint of half and half or soy/almond milk
1 or more extracts commonly find in the baking aisle
1or more spices of your choice
2 tablespoons sugar
1 nutmeg .. nut
a teaspoon and maybe a funnel

Today, I tried a holiday spice mix.

I opened up my half and half container, added 3-4 scrapes of grated nutmeg, no more than a pinch of pumpkin pie spice and a heaping teaspoon of pure almond extract.  I had some space in there left, so I added 2 tablespoons of sugar, the shook it up and took it to work with me.  I am very pleased with the result.  I get to change up my coffee creamer options and better control my sugar levels, and there are only a few ingredients! 

I make my own vanilla extract, so I can't tell you what it would taste like from the store bought versions - I prefer using real vanilla beans, but I don't see why you couldn't use the extract - I don't recommend using more than a hefty teaspoons' worth of any extract total in a half pint of half an half, or it will taste 'extracty'. 

Some other options:

1 tsp coconut extract

French Vanilla *larger container
1 or 1/2 vanilla bean
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
-combine water and sugar and bring to heat until dissolved, add cut up vanilla bean, or just the seeds and infuse for 20 mins -   Strain sugar mixture and add to half and half.  May add a (tiny)splash of vodka to help extract the vanilla.

Holiday Spice
1 tsp almond extract
4-5 swipes nutmeg or 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
+ sugar if desired

Eggnog *larger container
Vanilla infusion or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, same container
4-5 swipes nutmeg or 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon rum or whiskey or 1 tsp rum flavor extract

Chocolate Mint:
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 tablespoon or more cocoa powder
+ 2 tbsp sugar

Tiramisu: *larger container
Vanilla infusion or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, same container
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tablespoon or more cocoa powder

Just make sure you shake it up every time before using.

Because we are not baking or cooking the creamer, a small amount of alcohol will be in all the creamers if using extracts - distributed in a half pint of half an half, it shouldn't even be noticeable.  If this is an issue for you, a vanilla infusion with no vodka would be the best way to do a homemade vanilla flavor.  You could also make a large batch of vanilla bean simple syrup and keep it in the fridge in a large squirt bottle for multiple uses in this and other applications.

A bunch of these recipes I'm just guessing would be good, I haven't tried them all yet - Suggest more and I'll add them if they sound good :D



    • Jewelry Challenge

      Jewelry Challenge
    • Fat Challenge

      Fat Challenge
    • Pie Contest

      Pie Contest

    2 Discussions


    4 years ago on Introduction

    Irish Cream Please-Regular and no alcohol version if possible


    4 years ago on Introduction

    Just made the eggnog creamer and I am very pleased with the results! I did not use Vanilla since I purchased vanilla soy 1/2 and 1/2 and it still tastes delicious. Thanks for the recipe, can't wait to make more creamers!!