Yesterday was my first attempt at real homemade flavored coffee creamer… well, sorta homemade. I didn’t make the half and half or anything else that I put in it, BUT I did put it all together and I did make it at home and it IS way more economical than buying the flavored stuff in the store. I’m not sure what’s in the flavored creamers in the store… I do know there’s no dairy, so what is it? Hang on, I’ll check.
It is:
Water
Sugar Partially Hydrogenated Soybean oil and/or
Cottonseed Oil
Less than 2% of Sodium Caseinate (a milk derivative(
Natural and artificial flavors (whatever that means)
Dipotassium phosphate
Polysorbate 80
Datem
Color added
Carrageenan
Oh my!! That’s the first time I ever looked at the ingredients list on those creamers, and now I’m so disgusted that I’ve been drinking that stuff!!! Ugh! Blah!! It’s no wonder we’re all dying of cancer. *sigh* Okay, so that’s what is in the store bought flavored non-dairy creamers and uh… they charge you nearly $4 a quart for all that …. stuff.
Well, I knew there could be a cheaper way to be getting my flavor fix with my coffee. A bonus I’m now realizing is that it’s much healthier as well!!!! My creamer is not “non-dairy” though so if you’re lactose intolerant then I guess you’re out of luck with this one. Sorry. 🙁
I used a quart of half and half (It was a buck and some change), 8 tablespoons of REAL Maple Syrup, about a tablespoon Vanilla Extract and about a teaspoon Almond extract. I didn’t actually measure the extracts so that’s just a guesstimate! Mix all together in a pot and warm, don’t bring to a boil though. Once it’s all combined and warmed through, poor into container (I used the empty creamer container) and refrigerate. There will be slightly more than a quart, obviously, so I had some for my coffee right then, and a FULL quart container for the fridge! I like my creamer SWEET, so I found that the 8 T syrup wasn’t quite enough and I added some agave nectar after the fact. If you don’t mind sugar then you could certainly use that as well. I think I’ll try honey next time and see how that goes.
This made what turned out to taste like an Amaretto flavored creamer. The almond can be really strong so I’d do no more than a teaspoon and then test it to see if you want more.
I’m so excited about doing this! It makes me so happy to be SAVING money and actually drinking something REAL instead of a bunch of chemicals. Woo-Hoo!! Give it a try. I’m going to do some cinnamon flavored stuff and some caramel/vanilla sometime soon. You’re only limited by your imagination. It would be totally easy to add some coca and make a mocha flavored one as well!! Yay!!
Let me know if you try this and what flavors you came up with!
Toodles!