Recipe: Homemade Coconut Creamer for your Coffee!

One food I can NOT live or function without is coffee. Seriously.

Since about age 13 I have been an avid coffee drinker, and have tried every latte and coffee shop under the sun, and am always looking for delicious new places to try.

With this new healthy lifestyle I've acquired over the past couple years, I've made a conscious decision to give up dairy. With the exclusion of dairy from my diet, and what I believe to be a sensitivity to soy, my favorite coffee shops were dwindled down to a select few that had almond milk or coconut milk. (I'm still fully supporting the petition to get almond milk at Starbucks!) I also had a hard time finding good creamers I liked that were in fact GOOD for me and not packed with chemicals and artificial sweeteners.

So, with this predicament I decided to try making my own creamer out of canned coconut milk. After many many tries with different ingredients, I have a simple go-to recipe that really works and tastes great.

NOTE: This recipe can be altered in about a million different ways with spices and different sweetening agents like maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, etc.

Here is the recipe:

In a large mason jar or recycled glass bottle that pours well (I like using glass salad dressing bottles, they pour nicely into a mug) pour in the following:

1 can coconut milk (If calories and/or fat are something you're keeping an eye on, or you dont like your coffee too creamy, use LIGHT coconut milk)

1 tsp cinnamon

1-2 tsp vanilla extract (depending on how vanilla you want your creamer to be)

2 tbsp maple syrup (optional, and not pictured) - because I like my creamer on the sweet side.

Shake and mix well in the closed bottle, and bada-bing!
A nice little batch of coconut coffee creamer!

I really do love the simplicity of this dairy-free solution. A lot of my friends have told me about adding pumpkin purée to it to make a pumpkin spice creamer! YUM.

I also want to try some cacao and peppermint extract to see if I can make a good "Peppermint Mocha" creamer for the holidays!!