Hi Guys!
I am so excited for today’s recipe. But first let me tell you about an article I was reading about non-dairy coffee creamer and about how bad it is for you. I don’t want to say the brands, but just about all of those flavored coffee creamers are not good for you. It’s made of chemicals, and get this trans fat! Trans fat is the worse fat you can consume!! The government requires that a company puts the trans fat on the label, but lower than one-half gram can be listed as zero grams of trans fats! So why is that so bad? Serving size is the answer. If you have something that contains one-half gram fat (listed as zero), your still consuming one-half gram, however, if you have coffee creamer that has 63 servings in a bottle and you use it all in a week, you just consumed 31.5 grams of trans fat! Hello!!! That’s a lot!!! Don’t do it!! Trust me I know how hard it can be because I was one of those non-dairy coffee creamer drinkers! So what did I do to combat the need for coffee creamer? I made my own and you know what it is creamer, thicker and more delicious than the stuff in the bottle.
I love my coffee creamer! It takes a few minutes to make and it’s all natural. It contains 4 ingredients, half & half (milk & cream), non-fat milk, sugar and vanilla extract. All natural things. Yes it contains real sugar, but real sugar your body can process, it can’t process fake sugar. If you don’t use table sugar, you can always use maple syrup or honey. I will gladly have my creamer any day and to boot it’s cheaper to make then buying coffee creamer.
I didn’t want this post to get into a lecture, but I really feel the need to share my new-found information with you. So how do you know if something contains trans fat? It will contain one or all three of these ingredients; “partially hydrogenated,” or just “hydrogenated,” and “canola oil.” Here is the label from my Husbands Vanilla Coffee Creamer.
Look at the first 3 ingredients. Sugar and partially hydrogenated soybean. In the sugar-free creamer the first three ingredients are water, corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean. More trans fat! Please guys, make your own creamer and skip this stuff! Or just use half and half and sugar. Half and half is better for you than chemicals.
Ok, enough lecture of trans fat, let’s get to the good stuff, coffee creamer. My coffee creamer is easy to make. I just add all the ingredients, except the vanilla to a pan, heat it until the sugar is dissolved, let it cool and enjoy! The creamer lasts a week or longer in the fridge. I have made this three times and I simply love it. It really does make my coffee creamy, and gives it the most wonderful vanilla flavor. I didn’t add that much sugar to mine, but please add more to your creamer if you like. I feel if I need more sugar in my coffee, I just add a teaspoon. But honestly I haven’t added any additional sugar. Oh and to add some zip to my coffee, I add a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to my cup of coffee, than my creamer, give a mix and oh boy chocolaty perfection!!!
- 1 cup half and half
- 1½ cups non-fat milk
- 2 tbsp. sugar or maple syrup or honey
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- In a medium sauce, over low heat, add half and half, milk and sugar. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and bubbles start to appear on the sides of the pan; about 10 minutes.
- Take pan off of heat and whisk in vanilla extract. Let cool and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This will last about a week or more.
- Adjust sweetness to taste.
I look forward to waking up every morning and having a cup of coffee with my creamer. I plan on trying this basic recipe with different flavors. Oh the sky is the limit on where you can go!! Oh and I almost forgot to tell you, the serving size is 2 tablespoons, which is less than sugar-free and regular coffee creamer. 😉
So go relax, and grab a cup of Joe!
Have a great day!
Toodles,
Jennifer
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What I great idea! I love flavored coffee creamers, but I stopped buying them years ago because they’re full of unhealthy ingredients. I’ll be making this ASAP! I also love that you can try this recipe with different extracts.
Any chance you would have an idea for nondairy creamer recipes? I know how bad the nondairy creamers are however I don’t like just almond milk in my coffee. Any suggestions? Thanks!
I haven’t tried this yet, but will this weekend, so no guarantees. How about 1 can of light coconut milk for thickness and add either unsweetened coconut milk from the carton or almond milk to it. Make it the same measurements as my recipe. Don’t forget to add sugar and vanilla extract.
Im typing this from my phone, hope it makes sense. Let me know if u have any questions.
This is REALLY fabulous Jennifer! I am with you, at first when I was looking to be healthy that meant fat free of lowfat products. But later when you learn more you realize you are what you eat and chemicals and all that processed stuff is not healthy at all. It may not make you gain weight, but it is also not good for your body! LOVE it! Great work!
Last week, when I saw a nutritionist, she told me to stay away from non-fat and low fat foods, because f all the crap they put in it to give it flavor. She said the fat is good for me in moderation and she said as for sugar substitutes and even stevia, your body can’t process it and she said I should stick to small amounts of real sugar. Since I Have had real milk and real sugar, I noticed my stomach has slimmed down a pinch. Yah! As for the creamer in the store, I was shocked to find out that it contained trans fat. Little Jenny told me you can’t lose transfat no matter how much weight you lose. Not sure if that is true, but I’m going to listen to her. 🙂
I love the idea of making my own, but I have a hard time digesting heavy cream. That’s the only reason why I’ve used “non-dairy”. Will this work with just lowfat milk?
I did use half and half, which is not as heavy as heavy cream, but also used non-fat milk. You could use non-fat milk for the whole recipe, but it won’t turn out as thick, but it will still should taste good. I’m going to work on a non-dairy creamer for you Guys, it seems to be the request. So I’ll work on it.
I am not a coffee drinker myself, but one of my friends asked me to help her found a homemade coffee creamer recipe. So happy to send this pin her way! Thank you! I know she will appreciate your no-fake-sugar, all-real-ingredients approach. 🙂
Thank you Meggan for sharing! 🙂 We are big coffee drinkers in our house!
When you say non-fat milk, do you just mean skim milk? Could I use any type of milk? We drink 2% here.
Yes skim milk is fat free milk. 🙂 2% should be fine.
Also, could I replace the one cup of half and half with half cup of cream, and half cup of milk, bringing the recipe to 2 cups of milk? Sorry to be a pain, but any way I can further simplify!
I really hope this works, I just tried to make a batch using sweetened condensed milk and it was a fail 🙁
I think that should be fine. Try it out and see how it goes. I am sure it will work. You will just need to shake it before using. Let me know how it works out.
Do you have to heat the mixture? I don’t buy non fat milk, except for powdered for baking. Could you make a simple syrup with sugar and water, then add powdered milk and half and half?
Hi Hollie,
Honestly I have no idea. You can try it, but I can’t imagine it will be as thick.
I can’t wait to try this later today! ((: