Last summer I added up the cost of my husband's daily drive-through coffees. We were both shocked with the monthly total! I offered to make him coffee at home, since it would save both time and money and he reluctantly agreed to give it a try.
Our coffee maker has a delay brew setting, so I add the water and coffee the night before and program the coffee maker to start brewing when my husband's alarm goes off. My husband hits snooze. Several times. By the time we actually get out of bed the coffee is ready.
At first I bought pre-made French vanilla creamer from the dairy section at my grocery store to supplement my home brewed coffee. Then I read the ingredient list on creamer. I promise not to rant about high fructose corn syrup, but I will say that after reading the ingredient list I decided that I needed to come up with a better alternative. My solution was to make my own creamer:
French Vanilla Creamer Recipe
Shana says
July 17, 2009 at 10:47 pmthat is so cool. Imagine the possibilities, you know if I made coffee or drank it…lol!
Lori says
July 18, 2009 at 1:43 amOh yay and hooray! I canNOT drink coffee without flavored creamer and I love french vanilla! I will have to give this a try. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!
Brenda says
July 19, 2009 at 3:50 pmThats a great idea. I never thought of using sweetened condensed milk. There are so many other things you could do with that also.
I agree, avoid paying for overpriced coffee, especially when you can do something good for yourself at home.
My family prefers half and half. . .
The Book Lady Online says
August 4, 2009 at 10:32 amHow did this post slip by without my noticing it? This is GREAT! Thank you for the recipe! Gonna make this as soon as I can get out to the store for condensed milk. I bet it would make a great "frappucino" type drink, too.
Lori says
September 2, 2009 at 11:32 amYou can make sweetened condensed milk by boiling 1 part sugar + 2 parts milk to 225 degrees (jelly stage on a candy thermometer). 2 cups milk plus 1 cup sugar yields about 16 oz.
I'm Just a Girl says
September 11, 2009 at 1:02 pmWhat a fabulous idea! I make my own vanilla and have been looking for new ways to use it…thanks for the recipe!
Ranee @ Arabian Knits says
September 21, 2009 at 5:35 pmTwo ways you can make this for even less: Make your own condensed milk. It is just equal amounts of full fat milk with sugar (by volume, not weight), some recipes include a little vanilla, I don't. Also, making your own vanilla extract is so much cheaper and better than store bought or imitation. We make vanilla extract with vodka and vanilla bourbon for flavoring things with a little richer taste. I also make vanilla sugar, which people who adulterate their coffee can use (I take my coffee strong, hot and black), or it can be added to tea, cookies, cakes, etc. Yum!
Ranee @ Arabian Knits says
September 21, 2009 at 5:39 pmHeated milk, sorry. I found this out on accident when making some sort of candy and had added too much sugar.
Shastababy says
March 24, 2010 at 12:34 amThank you so much for this recipe! I have tried a couple of others, but they just didn't taste right to us. My roommate and I both love coffee with French Vanilla creamer, but we hate the price and all the garbage in it. I used a recipe from Ranee at Arabian Knits (from the comments above)for the condensed milk, homemade vanilla and had about a 1/2 cup of heavy cream to use up, so added that as part of the milk. It is absolutely wonderful! My roommate already is thinking of the Amaretto flavor since I have Almond Extract in the house as well. Thank you again!!!
Alea says
March 24, 2010 at 1:53 amI'm glad you like it. Ranee's idea is definitely reduces the cost! We have also used up extra cream when making creamer, so much better than letting it spoil in the fridge and it makes it a little thicker. Let me know how the Amaretto turns out.
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