All-natural Homemade Flavored Coffee Creamer

Most everyone who knows me knows that about nine months ago I switched to an all-natural diet.  It started out as something I saw on Oprah (yes, she sucked me in again!).  On this particular show was a man named Michael Pollan who was promoting his book titled "Food Rules."  It is a book of 64 rules on how to eat naturally (ex: Rule 2 - Don't eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.").  All of them easy to remember and easy to follow.  I was intrigued so I bought the book, read it in probably a half and hour (it's a short read) and have been hooked on the all-natural diet since then. 

What I wasn't expecting to find as a lovely side effect of this diet was that the Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (aka: GERD or just plain old heartburn) that had been plaguing me for the previous year and a half would go away just by switching to this diet.  I was amazed and grateful that I was no longer a slave to only eating certain foods and to those darn heartburn medications.  But, in switching the foods that I eat to only all-natural foods I found one unexpected fact.  There was no all-natural flavored coffee creamer available to me locally.  I was crushed!  No more Caramel Macchiato coffee creamer, no more Chocolate Marshmellow coffee creamer, no more French Vanilla coffee creamer.  In fact most of them that are commercially produced don't even have real dairy products in them.  The ones that might have real dairy also have artificial flavors, colors and/or preservatives in them.  None of them were all not an option for me either.

So, to the internet I went in search of a recipe and this one I modified from one that I found on Food.com.   Even if you don't subscribe to an all-natural diet you should seriously take a look at the indredient list on your favorite flavored coffee creamer from the store.  You'll be shocked that you can't even pronounce most of the indredients and you will run to the store for the three simple indredients it takes to make it on your own.

All-natural Homemade Flavored Coffee Creamer

2 cups milk
1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp. extract, any flavor

Combine all three indredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk together until combined.  I used an immersion (or stick) blender instead of a whisk because it makes quick work of it.  You could alternatively put all three ingredients in a blender to combine them as well.

I have kept mine in the fridge for up to almost three weeks without it spoiling.

You can make two flavored creamers from one batch of this recipe as well because it yields about three and a half cups of creamer total.  Combine only the milk and sweetened condensed milk and split that evenly into two containers Then add just 1/2 tbsp. of different extracts to each.

That's it.  Just a couple minutes and you have your own homemade flavored coffee creamer! 

Just a few notes about the indredients: 

I have made this with fat-free, 1% and 2% milk.  There is no noticable difference so use whatever you have in the fridge.

I use the regular sweetened condensed milk.  If you prefer you can use the fat-free sweetened condensed milk.  I use the regular because the fat-free has additives that aren't all-natural. 

I have made this with a variety of flavored extracts.  My favorite is vanilla.  I use pure vanilla extract (not imitation) and it creates a better, real vanilla flavor than any of the store bought creamers I used to buy.  It reminds me of real vanilla ice cream.  You know, the kind with the little black specks of vanilla bean.  Just sweet, pure vanilla flavored coffee....mmmm! 

I have also used almond extract (to make an amaretto flavored creamer), butterscotch extract and hazelnut extract.  I have made a caramel vanilla creamer by using vanilla extract but cutting the milk back to 1 + 1/2 cups (which makes it caramel-y).  You could also add some chocolate syrup or cocoa powder if you wanted a mocha flavored creamer.  The possibilities are endless so get creative (and if you come up with one that you like, please share it)!