How to Make Your Own Coffee Creamer at Home

Tired of paying high prices for flavored coffee at your local coffee shop? Wish you didn't have to shell out $4 a pop for those flavored creamers at the grocery store that always seem to taste like weird chemicals? Want a little flavor in your coffee but you just ran out of coffee creamer? Or maybe, like me, you forgot to buy milk last night?

When I woke up this morning and realized we were out of milk, I knew I had to be creative if I wanted my morning cup o' Joe to wake me up. Sure, I could run to the store to buy milk, but I have 5 1/2 bags of powdered milk that I received free from a friend, so why not see what I can do to use that up? I found tons of recipes for how to make your own coffee creamer, both for homemade powdered coffee creamer and homemade liquid coffee creamer, but how do I know if any of those recipes are any good? Lucky for you, I decided to save you a little trouble by taste testing 4 different homemade coffee creamers at home. Here are my results for the best homemade coffee creamer recipes.

Homemade Coffee Creamer Taste Test #1

This one's easy. I just prepared the powdered creamer as directed, but I added 1.5 times the amount of powdered milk recommended. I used Mountain Maid non-fat powdered milk as my base. Even with the extra milk powder, this feels watery in my coffee. That's because of the zero fat content.

If you are looking for a super healthy homemade coffee powder recipe, this one will be great for you, because it does taste fine; however, if you prefer a creamier cup of coffee, I have heard of a powdered milk tip that I haven't tried yet.

I'm a long-time fan of the Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. In one of the books it was recommended that you add a small amount of fat to powdered milk to improve the taste, something like 1 T. per gallon of powdered milk. It sounds kind of gross to me, honestly, but it makes sense in terms of fat adding texture. Powdered milk is pretty cheap, so why not experiment?

Homemade Coffee Creamer Taste Test #2

When I looked at the bag of powdered milk again, I thought, "Hey, why make a mix at all?" So I just stirred a big spoonful of straight powdered milk into my second cup of coffee. At first, I thought I'd made a terrible mistake, because a big clump of moist powder formed on the spoon and little white chunks of milk powder were floating on the top of my coffee. I must have slurped those out in the first gross-tasting sip, because by the second sip, the coffee tasted fine.

It's probably not the way I want every cup of coffee to taste, but it will do in a pinch. If you try this method, make sure to stir really well and even let your coffee sit for a minute before you drink it, in order to allow any stray chunks to dissolve. This one tasted very rich and was much creamier than the liquid powdered milk, but it may have been a bit too rich because I didn't finish the cup.

Homemade Coffee Creamer Taste Test #3

I found a recipe for homemade powdered coffee creamer at Thriftyfun.com. Submitted by Bruce from Evergreen, Colorado, the idea sounded, well, gross, but since I had all the ingredients on hand in abundance, I figured what the hell.

To made your own homemade powdered coffee creamer you'll need 1/2 cup of rice, 1/2 cup of powdered milk, and 1/4 cup of sugar. I used Jasmine rice, since that's what I had on hand. Here's what you do: blend the rice in your blender or food processor for 5 minutes. I used my blender and I probably only blended for about a minute, since I'm impatient. Blending longer will be better, so try to be more patient than I was. After blending the rice, add the powdered milk and sugar and blend until it's well-blended.

When it's done, you'll have enough for many cups of coffee. Store it in a plastic or glass container. (I used a recycled 16 oz. yogurt container, which the mix just about filled.) Add a heaping spoonful to your coffee. If you like your coffee sweet, you'll need to add more sugar, but if not, you'll probably find you won't taste the sugar too much.

This actually tasted much better than I expected! I even sent my boyfriend off with a travel mug filled with coffee made with this mix. A note to you, which I told him, don't expect to drink every last drop. The rice does not dissolve well, so you will have dregs on the bottom which I didn't want to drink and I imagine you won't either. If you can deal with that, this is a great mix to have on hand in a pinch.

Homemade Coffee Creamer Taste Test #4

Since I'm almost coffee-d out this morning, this will be my last test of the day, but it's just as well, because I've found a winner. Nannette Richford wrote the article Make Your Own Flavored Liquid Coffee Creamer, and I decided to try her Amaretto Liquid Coffee Creamer Recipe.

You'll need 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 1 1/2 cups of prepared powdered milk, 1 t. almond extract, and 1/2 t. cinnamon. I didn't have the powdered milk prepared already, so I poured all of the ingredients into the blender (which I had rinsed out from the last taste test) and whizzed until the mixture was nice and frothy. I didn't have a glass mason jar on hand to store the mixture, which is what Nannette recommends, but I did have an empty spaghetti sauce jar which did the trick.

You are supposed to chill powdered milk for at least 2 hours before serving, and some people say the flavor is best when chilled overnight, but this tasted great with no chilling at all. It will probably be even better tomorrow morning. I usually use cream and sugar, but I didn't need to add any additional sugar when using this, so if you are out of milk and sugar, you'll love this recipe.

Nannette's article also includes several variations like French Vanilla, Almond Orange, and Chocolate Almond, so go ahead and experiment. This mixture should keep in your fridge for 2 weeks and is significantly cheaper than store-bought liquid creamer. A winner for sure! Yum!

[ No sweetened condensed milk on hand? The Hillbilly Housewife website gives a recipe for making your own, as well as a lot of other recipes using powdered milk. A handy resource for sure!]

I hope this article helps the next time you run out of coffee creamer, and I'd love to hear about your own homemade coffee creamer taste tests at home!