Some might say that I have a weird obsession with coffee. And you know what? They would be right!
There are very few things I enjoy more than waking early in the morning before the family rises and having a hot cup of coffee flavored with delicious rich creamer. I set my alarm sometimes for 5:00am just to guarantee this happens. Some nights I get excited just thinking about my morning coffee. I am sure it is all mental. But I don’t care. Coffee just seems to make it all right in the world.
There is one problem.
Store bought flavored creamers are filled with hydrogenated oils, chemicals, and tons of fillers. Actually they don’t even have cream, sugar, or natural flavors in their ingredients list at all. Yuck! I tried to look past or deny this for years. Unfortunately, I can no longer do so.
Some of the brands are starting to offer “natural” creamers but at a premium price. Not to mention the flavor selection is minimal.
Well this girl needs her flavored creamer so I set out to create my own version of homemade vanilla coffee creamer. This is a basic recipe that can be used as a base for many flavors (which I plan on creating in the near future).
This vanilla creamer recipe is rich, creamy, and absolutely delicious. Try to be alone the first time you try it so you can just melt away in the yumminess 
I used sweetened condense milk because it is well …awesome and really makes this creamer in my opinion. There are other recipes out there in Internet land that use other sweeteners (ex. maple syrup) instead of sugar but they were not sweet enough for me. Good but for my one indulgent I needed a little more. Sorry I know bad…but this is one area I am not willing to sacrifice
Also, other recipes called for whole milk or cream but I found that half and half worked perfectly. Just the right amount of creaminess.
You are going to love this! Enjoy mamas!
Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer Recipe
Servings: 24 (makes 3 cups of creamer)
Serving size: 2 tablespoons
Calories: 74 * Carbs: 10 * Fat: 3 * Protein: 2* Fiber: 0 * Points +: 2 * Old Points: 2
Ingredients
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 ½ cups half and half
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
Step 1. In a medium sauce pan on low heat whisk together sweetened condensed milk and half and half until combined.
Step 2. Whisk in the vanilla and cinnamon.
Step 3. Warm up mixture until it steams. Do not bring to a boil.
Step 4. Move away from heat and let sit for about 5 minutes.
To store the creamer pour into glass container and cover. I use a Ball Regular Mason 1 Qt Canning Jar
The homemade french vanilla creamer will keep for about 10 days in the refrigerator. If it even lasts that long
This recipe is shares at:
You are brillant! I think this will work with Almond extract as well. I’m not a big fan of French Vanilla. Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks!
It definitely will. Play around with the flavors. Let me know what you come up with.
You can use FF half and half and make it even better..I am going to give it a try…
I was going to make it FF but the store did not have every time I went to get it. Let me know how it turns out!!
I am stopping at the store to get half and half to make this tonight for my morning coffee! I can’t wait!!!
I completely understand with your obsession to have your cup of coffee all alone in the morning. I have 3 kids, 6 yrs & under and I love that time that I get to sit and drink my coffee , while it is still quiet. And like you, that means waking up at 5 or 5:30, but that’s ok with me
I love this recipe. I have a can of FF condensed milk that I can use. It would be fun to play around with all the extract flavorings.
Made some two nights ago, thanks so much! I’m curious to know if anyone has tried it w fat free half and half… I looked at the ingredients and it had almost as many things listed as coffee mate so I didn’t buy it. I did, however, get low fat sweetened condensed milk. There was also fat free…
I just made some Irish Creme (used my Bailey’s but I don’t leave the house in the mornings LOL) and the French Vanilla. Both are really good. For the Irish Creme, I omitted the cinnamon and used 2 tsp. of Bailey’s. I also split the recipe, using 1/2 of the liquids for each batch, and 1/2 the vanilla and cinnamon for the French Vanilla. I used FF condensed milk but regular 1/2 and 1/2 since the FF 1/2 and 1/2 contains HFCS. Thanks for the recipes!
That sounds awesome! I never use the FF half and half either. Give me real or give me nothing
I’m excited about this idea, but as I bought the ingredients last night to make this, I got to wondering if the nutritional information you provided is accurate. Sweetened condensed milk is 130 calories for 2 tbsp alone. Even buying fat free sweetened condensed milk, the calories per 2 tbsp is 110. These calories are all without adding in the half and half yet, but the nutritional information of your creamer is 2 tbsp is 56 calories. Am I misunderstanding something?
Hi Karee,
Thanks for your comment. When the recipe is fully put together you will get about 4 cups of creamer. This equals 64 tablespoons. I broke the serving size down to 2 table spoons which then comes to 56 calories per serving according to my fitness pal. The condensed milk liquifies as it steams so it is not as you are eating pure condensed milk…although that could be yummy
I hope this helps answer your question. Tammy
Karee I was wrong. The full recipe makes about 3 cups of creamer not 4. That did up the calories a bit. I changed the servings and recipe to reflect that. Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. The calories are equivalent to store bought creamer but minus all the artificial ingredients
Just added these items to my grocery list! Can’t wait to make this!!
Cindy
LOVE THIS! I try and avoid processed food, but I haven’t brought myself to give up the creamer. You have inspired me to try and make my own!!
Made this last night and will have some with my last cup of coffee this morning. I use skim milk in all other cups, but the last cup is my “treat.” CAN’T WAIT to get to the bottom of the pot today!
I changed it just a bit (felt gulity with all that rich half and half). Instead of 1 1/2 cups of half and half, I did 1 cup half and half and 1 cup 2% milk, total of 30oz creamer. In each 2 tablespoons I come up with 48 cal, 6 carbs, 1.5 fat and 1.2 pro. Now that I see the numbers, I don’t need to feel guilty at all!!!! Yummy and THANK YOU!!!!! I will NEVER go back to store bought!
I just read this post today (2-29-2012) I also have a thing with coffee. I usually get up around 5 – before everyone else – to have that first cup of coffee and do my devotions. I also get excited about my quiet time with my coffee the night before. Glad to know I am not alone. Thanks also for this recipe. I buy creamers every now and then, usually at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but am like you in that I do not like what they are made with.
I love my coffee and creamer too and hated buying the stuff in the store b/c of the ingredients, there aren’t any dairy products in them at all (like you mentioned) and I’d ask myself “why the heck not?” and it made me mad. I was happy to see recently when coffeemate came out with the all dairy, natural creamer and I loved that. But then this morning I ran out of it and thought, “hmmm, maybe I could make my own”. I was excited to come across this page. I was doing milk, sugar and pure vanilla extract only. Now I’m excited to try the sweetened condensed milk in it cause i felt like something was missing with the stuff I made. Thanks!
Tammy,
Have you made any Hazelnut creamer? I love that along with the Skinny Mocha Latte creamer! I too, love to get up early just to have a few minutes alone with my coffee and my computer.Sometimes it works great, and other times not! My dad lives with us and guess he smells the coffee and up he comes! so then my “alone time” is gone! Hope you can come up with some morecoffee flavors!! I would probably try using FF condensed milk, FF milk… Gonna make me some of this in a smaller version since I am not a big fan of French Vanilla. My youngest daughter loves it though!
Your first paragraph describes me to a T!! Sounds like I have a long list sister!!! Great ideas for the creamer…. I am going to the grocery store right now. I am going to utilize the creamer bottle I just finnished….. No more will I buy flavored creamer, so pumped to make my own!!! Thank you!
This was great! I actually used it with all skim milk and no half and half and it tastes wonderful! I love the cinnamon in it.
Hi shelley, so glad you enjoyed. I just got done with my second cup of coffee with it …mmmmm
I just had an epiphany that I could make my own creamer and came across your website. Thanks for the recipe!
If you’re looking for a container try recycling one of your salad dressing containers. Several brands now use glass jars with a small spout prefect for pouring your morning delight.
This creamer is amazeballs!! I used FF sweetened condensed and whole milk (because that’s what I had on hand) and it is soooooo good. I will never buy creamer again! Thank you!
So glad you liked it!!
I also looove my morning coffee & look forward to it the night before when I make sure it is automatically set to brew in the morning & I looove to top it with creamer but also can no longer ignore it’s list of ingredients. I am headed to the kitchen to make this right now. I plan on eventually trying peppermint & chocolate, all of my favorites. I started on a journey of making things much more naturally including baked goods, chicken broths, soups, ect. & the store bought creamer definitely needed replaced.
This is a favorite! Hope you liked it.
Just made a Hazelnut version of this! Pretty good, super creamy…omitted the cinnamon, and used all fat free and hazelnut extract.
Hello,
I agree with you, creamers usually have just too much sugar and artificial colors, so making homemade coffee creamer is a great idea. I am sure this one is great especially because you used half and half for this recipe. Great work.
I just saw a post of homemade coffee creamer on pintrest. When I googled homemade coffee creamer ours came up with a few others. However, I like the look of your recipe the best. I have to buy creamer once a week. This will be a nice change to not have to run to the store when I run out. If you ever make cholocate or carmel please let me know how it turns out. I would love try different ones. Can’t wait to go shopping tomorrow to try it.
I completely share your sentiment toward coffee! And the sweetened creamer is something I will not give up, either. I have been looking for an inexpensive alternative to the artificial creamers for some time now. I’ve been using half and half with sugar, but it’s just not cutting it. Thank you for sharing this recipe. It sounds so delicious and I cannot wait to try it!
I got tired of spending so much on store bought creamer so I decided to look up recipes for homemade creamer and your site popped up along with a few others. When I found your site I decided to get the stuff to make my own. I followed your original recipe, but with the cinnamon I could barely taste the vanilla. I played around with it and omitted the cinnamon to make the vanilla creamer the way I like it and played around with some other recipes that I found on other sites. I made the original that you have and kept it just for a cinnamon creamer, made vanilla creamer, a chocolate mint, and honey vanilla. I am so happy that I found this. Thank you for posting it.
I was curious as to why this recipe is heated when none of the others I have read are, even though they basically have the same ingredients? Is it a personal preference, and does it make a huge taste difference? Thanks!!
I was wondering the same thing. I made it in my blender without heating.
Instead of a mason jar to store it in, I simply washed out my empty bottle of creamer and poured my homemade stuff in it :p
great idea!!
Tammy, there was a question posted by Dawn on August 5th regarding heating the creamer up…is it important ?
Hi there! Sorry I thought I answered that question. The condensed milk is really thick so steaming the half and half with the condensed milk melts it all together. Is it critical .. I don’t know but that is how I learned to do it. You can try it without steaming it and see what you think. Thanks for the question.
Just got done making this with condensed milk, 2% milk, vanilla x2 and the recommended amount of cinnamon. Turned out wonderful. So much cheaper than buying from the store and without all the added junk. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe!
Just wondering if anyone has tried this with a vanilla bean instead of the extract. If so, how much did you use?
Hi, I have tried one of the recipes from another site it didn’t say anything about heating it. I liked it fine, I thought it was too sweet for me. I didn’t really play around with recipe it all. Today I found your site and did try your recipe, with a couple of variations. I used Almond Milk and while steaming it with condensed milk, I added the vanilla, cinnamon and for a Fall kick, I added Pumpkin Spice. It’s delicious, I wish it was morning, so I could have a yummy cup of coffee. I thank all of you for sharing your ideas.
Hi there! Yeah I really do prefer to steam it all together. I feel like it blends so much better in my opinion. So glad you liked it. I never tried it with almond milk…will have to give that a shot in the future. Thanks for popping over.
Love this site, It has been passed to our quilting group by one of the ladies there. I was so very happy she found it. I think I am going to try it with the Almond milk since I already have it and the condensed milk
Thank you very much for your time and energy in putting this together. I only just started drinking this cappuccino a few weeks ago and am now addicted!!!
Hi Tammy,
your blog is heaven sent. Was looking for a homemade creamer to add into a cake recipe to substitute Baileys Irish creme which has alohol. I have young kids and would need to replace the creamer part. Was thinking of your lovely recipe.
If I add the the sweetened condensed milk, plus sugar from the cake, wouldnt the cake be awfully sweet? How do I make my own Mocha Coffee cremer. Any idea?
Thank you so much.
Jacqui
I am from Singapore by the way.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! I love meeting readers from across the globe! To make the mocha creamer try adding a tablespoon of cocoa powder. You might need to add a little more depending on how chocolate you want it.
Do you flavored syrups to make your coffee creamers? I have a bottle of original hazelnut syrup and no recipe to make the creamer with. I love your recipes.
I have not used flavor syrups but I am sure you can. I would do 1 tablespoon at a time until I got the flavor I like. Let me know how it turns out.
Just a warning to those wanting to use almond milk-store bought almond milk tastes really weird in coffee. I’ve read (but not tried it yet) that fresh homemade almond milk is completely different though and tastes great in coffee. Again, I haven’t tried it, but thats what I’ve read
I make my creamer just like this, but with less condensed milk, and extra vanilla (and sometimes other stuff). I found it was too sweet for me with that much condensed milk but with a bit less its perfect!
I stumbled onto your site as I was googling creamer recipes….what a find! I would love to just sit here for the next hour and glean some wisdom, but the kids will be upon me soon and I still have yet to drink my first cup!
Thank you so much for this comment!! It made my night!! I am so glad you enjoy what you have seen so far. Keep in touch
A woman after my own heart! I have Celiac (no wheat/gluten) and my flavored coffees is my “guilty pleasure” since I can’t have all the sweet treats. I love trying new kinds all the time.
This was exactly what I was looking for. Just made a batch (I added more cinnamon as a personal preference) and it is delicious. I had tried others but not as good. I think it’s the sweetened condensed milk – simple but wonderful solution. And you can adjust the amount of half and half to get the right sweetness (I’m like you – it’s the one thing that I LOVE sweet.)
I had saved an empty creamer bottle (one of the clear ones so you can take away all the labeling) and filled it up with this homemade creamer. Can’t wait to experiment with different flavors.
I’ve just made it and it smells delicious, and it is delicious… yummy! I am not a big coffee drinker (a weekend drinker) and this only lasts up to 10 days so that’s not going to work for me… I’m going to try freezing it in batches and see what happens…and instead of thawing it out, I’ll just drop it directly into my coffee… will keep you posted…
That sounds like a great idea – the only issue I can forsee is it cooing down the coffee too much. But let me know how it turns out. – Tammy
I read someone puts the creamer in ice cube trays to keep it fresh and the perfect portion. I like my coffee creamy, so I use 2 cubes!
I never actually comment on websites but THIS! Oh ma gaw.. I wish I knew about this earlier it is soso good. Thank you so much! You have definitely changed my life and coffee rituals for the better.
You are welcome! SO glad you like it!
Have you ever tried Peppermint? I am making your recipe today, can’t wait.
Yes I have tried peppermint. This is how I did it
1 14 ounce can sweeten condensed milk
1 ½ cups half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
Then I just make it the same way. it is very yummy!
I just tried this recipe desperate for my morning coffee and i must say this an excellent recipe.Thankyou Skinny Moms Kitchen….
I have a double batch warming on the stove as we speak… mmmmmmmmm… We’re are sooooo very excited!!! We are HUUUUUGE coffee snobs, so I can’t wait to see how this turns out! :O)
Soooooooo… the verdict its in. We splurge in a BIG way when it comes to our morning coffee. We use Peerless French Roast prepared in a French press. We used to use Peet’s but got tired of the price going up. Peerless is the closest we have gotten to the real deal and been able to save money. Bailey’s French Vanilla is the ONLY creamer we swear by, BUT I want to make our morning treat “cleaner”. SO, the only difference we are going to try out is using heavy whipping cream and organic milk. We also make our own carmel (easy peasy stuff) and add it to our coffee for special mornings. We do keep it at a 2 cup max and I, personally add hot water at the end to make more of an Americano. Still, I love the recipe and the idea and I will NEVER go back to store bought cream. THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing!!! <3
Seriously? That few calories for 2 tbsp??? Awesome. I will be trying this very soon!
This is very good. I had trouble pouring from the Mason jar so I upcycled a wine bottle with a pourer. It looks good and the stopper in the pourer is tight enough to be able to combine the ingredients each morning without spilling.
That is so clever!! Thanks for sharing!
Hi so I’m confused so I need a 14 oz can then what 11/2 cups off half half cream?? Sorry it just doesn’t make sense I’ve asked like 5 others and they don’t get it either why would you say 1 14 can the 1 1/2 cup of half half does that mean 11/2 cups of half half or just 1/2 cup of half half
Hi Jen! Sorry you are confused. As the recipe states you need 1 can of sweetened condensed milk. Then you also need 1 1/2 cups of half and half. Both of those ingredients are needed for this recipe. Hope that helps.
Tammy
This looks like an excellent recipe, I omitted the condensed milk as I am not a huge an of processed foods. If you love the taste of condensed milk I would try this recipe: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/recipes/healthy-homemade-sweetened-condensed-milk-without-powdered-dry-milk/
Same goes for fat free dairy products. While the fat is removed, it is replaced with corn syrup and chemicals to thicken it up… It is not at all healthy for you. I just use organic half and half and while it is a little more expensive, it is a lot better for you, just go light on it as to avoid consuming too much fat. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/andrew-weil-md/processed-foods_b_1474570.html
As for the flavor selection you chose… DELICIOUS! Will have to try also with an almond extract. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve been living in Spain for three years, a country which, in my opinion, is wonderful place to live and has great coffee, but unfortunately does not import coffee creamer from the USA (because if they did, I swear I would have found it already!). Today I had the bright idea to search for a recipe and found this one and it’s amazing! I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this sooner! Delicioso!
Any thoughts on how to make a hazelnut creamer? I’m not a huge fan of vanilla. My indulgence is a dark roast coffee (Black Silk Folger’s is my preference) with Hazelnut creamer. Mmmmm. But yes, I know what you mean about the stuff you buy in the store. A healthier replacement would make for a happier and healthier me! =)