Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer

Half of our kids are adults, two are teenagers, which leaves just one that hasn't reached his teen years yet.  Wow, just reading that sentence makes me feel a moment of panic.  This whole growing up thing has just happened way too fast, and I'm terrified to blink in case they all graduate when I'm not looking.  But this isn't about the relentless march of time, or about how we should cherish every moment because before we know it they've all grown up.  Nope, this is about coffee.  And about how we've traded in sippy cups for coffee mugs.  

We've got quite a few coffee and tea drinkers in the house now.  As newbie coffee drinkers, these kids (why is it so hard to call them adults?) load up their mugs with almost as much milk, cream and sugar as coffee.  Recently they added flavoured coffee creamers to the mix.

 As I was tossing an empty container of vanilla coffee creamer into the recycling bin, I gave the label a quick read and I had to shake my head at the ingredient list.  It looked like this:

INGREDIENTS: WATER, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN AND/OR COTTONSEED OIL, AND LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE (A MILK DERIVATIVE)**, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, CELLULOSE GEL, CELLULOSE GUM, COLOR ADDED, CARRAGEENAN.

So what's a mom to do when everyone's jumping on the vanilla flavoured coffee bandwagon?  Make up a batch of homemade vanilla coffee creamer, of course.  It took me about 10 minutes and the result was better than the store bought stuff.  I made a simple syrup with water, sugar, and vanilla extract.  Combined it with sweetened condensed milk, then added regular milk.  This is good stuff.  I actually caught my 14 year old pouring himself a glass to drink it straight up.  It's ridiculously easy, and you probably already have all of the ingredients.  And the best part?  You can pronounce them all.

Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer

One batch of Simple Vanilla Syrup (below)

One can of sweetened condensed milk

Two cups of milk - I’ve used both whole and 2% milk, both worked well

Combine ingredients in a clean mason jar.  Secure lid and shake until well combined.  This will keep in the fridge for up to a week, shake before using.

*I poured boiling water into my mason jar before using to make sure it was squeaky clean.

**If you prefer not to use canned sweetened condensed milk, you can make your own.  This recipe looks good.

Simple Vanilla Syrup

1/2 cup filtered water

1/2 cup organic granulated cane sugar

2 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat, allow to cool 5 minutes, stir in vanilla extract.

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