Have you ever looked at the ingredients in coffee creamer? My number one pick for coffee creamer is International Delight Caramel Macchiato. Let’s look at the ingredients for that one.
- Non-Dairy Product Ingredients: Water, Cane Sugar, Palm Oil, Contains 2% or Less of each of the following: Sodium Caseinate (A Milk Derivative)*, Dipotassium Phosphate, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Mono And Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Polysorbate 60, Carrageenan, Salt
Um…sounds like a lot of unhealthy stuff huh? Not that creamer is advertised as healthy but if I can’t pronounce it, I’m not sure that I want to be drinking it!
Onward and forward…the Coffee Creamer Quest!
After reading a bunch of blogs and gathering creamer recipes, I figured it would be a piece of cake to make a good tasting healthier creamer than what I could find at the store.
It actually turned out to be harder than I originally expected.
The very first recipe that I tried was:
- 1 can condensed sweetened milk
- 1 ½ cups almond milk
- 1/3 cup Torani Flavoring Syrup (caramel flavored)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Although it was a decent recipe, the after-bite of the condensed sweetened milk left my nose wrinkling. It was almost too sweet without being sweet enough at the same time. I added Stevia to try to take some of the bite off but it didn’t seem to help. Telling myself that I could get used to it, I drank it for several days before I finally gave up trying to adapt.
I also took some time to look at the ingredients in the Torani Syrup.
- Torani Syrup Ingredients: Pure cane sugar, water, natural flavors, citric acid, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (to preserve freshness), caramel color.
I wasn’t 100% comfortable with the syrup ingredients. However, the Torani product line also consists of a caramel sauce. The ingredients in the sauce made me more comfortable so I went ahead and switched to that one instead of the syrup.
- Torani Sauce Ingredients: Corn syrup, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, heavy cream, water, butter, nonfat milk, natural flavor, salt soy lecithin, mono-&-diglycerides and sodium bicarbonate.
A friend then suggested trying cashew milk since it was a thicker consistency than almond milk. I had never heard of cashew milk and was extremely intrigued. After scouring the milk section, I happily carted off a jug of cashew milk from the grocery store.
Knowing that the condensed milk did not work well for my taste buds, I decided to try a cream base instead.
The 2nd recipe included:
- ½ cup Cashew Milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup Torani Caramel Sauce
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
The very first thing to note about this recipe is…putting it in a jar and shaking it to mix it is not the wisest move… Oops… However if you make this mistake, you end up with an extremely delicious whipped cream creation…yum yum!
The 2nd recipe was an improvement on the 1st but it still didn’t have a “snuggle up in a blanket with your coffee in the morning” taste to it.
Not one to give up on a challenge, I wandered around the milk and baking section at the grocery store. In the baking area, next to the evaporated and condensed sweetened milk, I found a can of coconut milk. Well, by golly, why not give that a try, right?
Drumroll please….we have a winner!!!
***revised recipe 12/19/16***
Recipe #3:
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 1½ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup Torani Caramel Sauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
I still add Stevia as a sweetener every time I make a cup of coffee with this creamer. And because I like a little bit more of a caramel taste, I squirt in a little bit more of the caramel sauce in as well.
Don’t forget, stirred not shaken if you use heavy whipping cream…unless you want chunky creamer.
It was a small journey to find a creamer that works for my taste buds but it was worth it to find a more natural creamer that consisted of ingredients that I could actually pronounce. Hopefully my future health will thank me some day.
Until Next Time,