Coffee Creamer Three Ways

Its been too long friends, way too long. A crazy project knitting away at a gazillion hats for my drumline students between rehearsals has swallowed up so much of my time. Now that I'm able to tread water in this sea of purple yarn, I am back with a few classic fall recipes.

You'd like to see these kids, right?

Look, kids wearing purple hats!

New uniforms and a new positive attitude to boot.

So what's that I said about classic fall recipes? We all know fall is here when pumpkin spice is everywhere, especially in our coffee. As I was staring at the tiny ingredient list for my favorite coffee creamer, I couldn't help but wonder just what on earth I was doing buying this at the store. With just four ingredients, surely I could make this go-juice at home.

The best part of the recipes is that with so few ingredients, its a snap to adjust for your own preferences. You just might have to go dig in the recycle bin for a few old bottles to store all this creamer.I may *or may not* have nearly fallen into the recycle bin mining empty creamer bottles.

Sweet Vanilla Creamer:
1 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup half and half
1/3 cup sugar
1-2 teaspoons vanilla

Whisk all ingredients together and taste. Adjust sugar and vanilla to your preferences. Store in a container with a tight lid in the refrigerator and shake well before using.

Ok, ok. So vanilla doesn't exactly say fall quite like pumpkin. I couldn't just send you on your merry little way with only one creamer recipe. It just wouldn't be right.

Pumpkin Spice Creamer:
1 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup half and half
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1-2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Whisk and taste some more. For a little extra sweetness or depth of flavor, add a touch of maple syrup or molasses. Remember the pumpkin and spices will settle, so be sure to shake well. Want to take a crack at your own pumpkin spice blend? Check out the oh-so-sweet Joy the Baker's recipe here.

Tuxie sat on my lap until the camera came out.

Oh.
What was that about maple syrup?

A little maple syrup in the cream cheese frosting on sticky buns is one of my favorites. Let's run with that, too.

Sticky Bun Creamer:
1 1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup half and half
1/4 cup 100% real maple syrup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1-1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Whisk and taste one more time. Dream up your own flavors, use real ingredients. Grab some Hershey's chocolate and peppermint extract. Go crazy!

Soak up the weather, cozy up to a fire and share a bit of delicious coffee with your friends. Whatever you do, find a cat to ignore you.