Homemade French Vanilla Creamer

Total Time: 5 mins Preparation Time: 5 mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar or 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup powdered milk
• 2 -3 teaspoons vanilla extract (3-4 tsp if using artificial)
• 2 -3 teaspoons butter, melted or 2 -3 teaspoons i can't believe it's not butter
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Recipe

• 1 if you use metric units, don't worry about exact conversions. it doesn't matter. it's the ratios that are more important than the exact measurements.
• 2 heat up the milk and the water to moderately warm. you could boil the milk for a short while, if you like, because this would caramelize the milk sugar a bit and actually enhance the flavor, since french vanilla is actually a combination of vanilla with a caramel overtone. i just heated the milk and water in two batches in a 2 cup (1/2 liter) pyrex cup in the microwave (1-2 minutes). just make sure the liquid is not too hot, because powdered milk does not mix well with boiling liquid. if you boil the milk, let it cool considerably before using.
• 3 blend the sugar, milk powder & cinnamon together.
• 4 add the milk and water to a blender and turn it on to one of the slower speeds. i used "puree" on my unit.
• 5 slowly add the sugar milk powder mix and blend until dissolved. about a minute will suffice.
• 6 add the melted butter or butter substitute, vanilla extract & cinnamon and blend for a few seconds more to incorporate.
• 7 that's it. scoop off and suck down the delicious foam on top and put the liquid into a container. refrigerate and enjoy!
• 8 if you want to use the light brown sugar but only have , you can add up to 1 t of molasses, refiner's syrup or dark corn syrup. i suppose you could even use maple syrup, but that will obviously change the taste complex. of course, you might like that!
• 9 this could be made with all water and 2 1/3 times the milk powder. however, to enhance the creaminess, the butter or butter substitute should be doubled, as most milk powder is non-fat.
• 10 i like a lot of milk in coffee, so these proportions work for me. if you use less milk or creamer in your coffee, but want it sweeter, you could add as much as 50% more sugar.
• 11 alternative flavors: replace the vanilla with almond extract; almond and some orange extract; rum flavoring, hazelnut or black walnut or whatever you desire. the cinnamon should not overpower the vanilla in this version, but feel free to double or triple the cinnamon if you like it. try replacing the vanilla with double that amount of pumpkin pie spice mix. there are no rules here! experiment with the flavors you enjoy, but within the flavoring quantities listed.
• 12 nutritional considerations: of course, the sugar is not the best thing for you. but, there doesn't seem to be any reason why you couldn't replace the sugar with one of the "measure for measure" sugar substitutes either, though i haven't tried it yet. the idea of using the milk powder is that it increases the creamy taste, and doubles the milk solids & proteins of the milk (known as "tiger's milk") without increasing the fat content. i used a butter substitute spray made from olive oil, so that helps. lactose intolerant persons could add "lactaid" enzyme, i suppose, though i assume few people would have a problem with an ounce, or so, of a lactose containing product.