Add Flavor to Your Coffee with Homemade Flavored Creamer

Adding flavor to your coffee can be as personal and unique as you yourself. Try some of these recipes and build on them to create your own.

Much like our post last week, one of the nicest things about making your own flavored coffee creamer is customizing it to your taste. Since you have complete control, you can determine how sweet it is, what flavor it is, and even what ingredients to use. You also know exactly what is in your creamer when you make it yourself. Using your own ingredients means having complete control over what you are drinking.

Regular Creamer Base

For a regular creamer, start with a can of sweetened condensed milk. Add to that an equal amount of creamer or whole milk. Once you have this base down, you can add any flavorings you like to please your taste buds.

Vegan Creamer Base

If you're vegetarian or vegan or just can't have milk, don't worry, we've got you covered as well. Start with a can of sweetened condensed coconut milk. This will give you the thick consistency you crave. Next, add an equal amount of coconut milk or switch it up for a different consistency and use almond milk, soy milk, or whatever milk alternative sounds good to you.

For either base, if you want to lower the amount of your sugar intake, you can make your own sweetened condensed milk. In a small saucepan add 2 cups of whole milk, coconut milk, or any of your favorite milk alternatives and 3/4 cup of your replacement sweetener. Slowly bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat and allow to cook for 30 minutes while whisking often. Do not allow the mixture to become scalded. Remove the milk mixture from the heat after it has been reduced by half. Turn off the heat, add 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and allow to cool. For the vegan version, replace the milk with full fat, canned coconut milk and leave out the butter.

Your homemade coffee creamer can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Adding Flavors

Now, you can keep your creamer as is. There's absolutely no need to add any flavors to it if you prefer a plain creamer. If you do want flavors here are some ideas

• Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Hazelnut
• Mint
• Almond

You can use flavored extracts to add to your creamer base. You can also use syrups and spices. If you choose to use spices, consider adding them to a little bit of milk and heating them up to dissolve them into the liquid. This will keep your creamer from becoming grainy.

The amount of flavoring you will need is totally dependent on you and your taste buds but start with 2 tablespoons in your base. After incorporating the flavors well, taste your creamer and add more if desired. Just remember, it's easy to add more but impossible to remove too much.

For some tasty combinations try these

• Milk Chocolate - 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Nutella - 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup and 2 teaspoons hazelnut extract
• Pumpkin Spice = 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 2 cinnamon sticks
• Peppermint Mocha - 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1/8 teaspoon espresso powder (not espresso grind coffee!), 1 teaspoon mint extract

Now that you know how to make your own coffee creamer and flavored coffee creamer, what flavors are you going to create for yourself?