I don’t like store brand flavored coffee creamers.
Store-bought coffee creamer is too sweet, and I can’t spell the chemicals.
When I make things at home, I can control the amount of sugar (or leave it out entirely), and they save the environment from making more plastic jars. Here are a few of my favorites, but I’ll update this page with more, so join us for morning coffee, afternoon coffee, and.. coffee at the end of a hard day on your homestead.
A word on coffee vocabulary: Bailey’s is a brand name. I’m not even sure we can use it. So, instead, I’ll promote it–it’s delicious. Go buy some. Put that in your evening coffee instead. It’s just we don’t want to get our kids off to school drunk or operate farm tools that way. And our Vanilla Creamer isn’t French Vanilla, because we’re not French. Neither is vanilla. It usually comes from Mexico, Tahiti, Madagascar, Uganda, or Papua New Guinea, and that title is just too long. Finally, we say “cream” instead of “creamer” because “-er” means “like cream except it’s really a lot of chemicals,” which we think is disgusting. We use cream.
TWO OPTIONS: Use the milk to heavy cream ratio below. OR: use a can of evaporated milk, 1 cup heavy cream, one cup milk. It’s a more store-like flavor. We debate this in my house.
This coffee cream is better than store coffee creamer:
Bailey's Coffee Cream
INGREDIENTS
- 0 to 2/3 cups sugar (start in the middle, make this as sweet as you like, or even leave out sugar)
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cups milk (plus a little extra to make a full quart)
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 T freeze-dried coffee
- 1/4 c chocolate syrup
DIRECTIONS
- Put all the ingredients in a quart mason jar.
- Shake.
- Top off the jar with some milk.
- Enjoy!
This lasts a week or two in the fridge depending on how fresh your cream is.
COST: $Â Â If you have a cow, this is almost free. If not, it’s about a dollar for the milk and cream, coffee will run you a couple dollars but no one actually drinks the granules so that jar last you for several batches of this and my Christmas Tiramisu. Almond extract is pricey and something I don’t make myself. Get the good stuff. This is an ingredient where quality matters. Chocolate syrup is easy to make and also cheap if you buy the Hershey’s.
Not French Vanilla Coffee Cream
INGREDIENTS
- 0 to 2/3 cups sugar (start in the middle, make this as sweet as you like, or even leave out sugar)
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 3/4 cups milk (plus a little extra to make a full quart)
- 2 T vanilla (ours is homemade)
DIRECTIONS
- Put all the ingredients in a quart mason jar.
- Shake.
- Top off the jar with some milk.
- Enjoy!
This lasts a week or two in the fridge depending on how fresh your cream is.
COST: $Â Â See above. Ours is super cheap because we make our own vanilla. Otherwise, vanilla is pricey and that will add a few cents to your cost.
Food Adaptations:
(We’re unique eaters here, and maybe you are, too. Each recipe we make comes with food adaptations for our different-eater friends)
- Gluten Free: This is naturally gluten free
- Vegetarian: This is naturally vegetarian.
- Vegan: Use almond or soy milk instead of milk and cream. It won’t be as creamy, but the taste will still be good.
- Keto: Use full cream instead of the milk/cream combination. Leave out the sugar. You can put in stevia or monkfruit to taste.
- For sugar-free chocolate syrup: Put 1/4 c T cocoa powder and 3T water into a small saucepan. Heat and whisk until blended. You can add stevia to this or leave it out. Refrigerate. Use 2 T of this as your chocolate syrup. You can scale this recipe and save for other uses.
- Kosher: This is naturally kosher.
- Halal: Substitute the almond extract and vanilla for a non-alcohol based brand.
DISCLAIMER: That beautiful cafe cortado didn’t use this creamer. It’s barista-crafted by the barista at Sarto in Providence, Rhode Island. Great place. It’s my picture, though. In the spirit of coffee, I’m going to use it.