My name is Meredith, and I’m addicted to coffee creamer.  There.  I said it.

I LOVE those sweet & creamy Coffeemate and International Delight creamers, and I was buying them 32 ounces at a time.  When pumpkin spice creamer went on clearance after Christmas a couple of years ago, this was an actual photo of our fridge.  I kid you not.

But one day, I really read the ingredient list, and I was grossed out.

If you can’t read that, the main three ingredients are water, sugar, and palm oil.  Oil??  There is no milk or cream in these “creamers,” and that had me concerned.

At the start of the new year, I set out to find a healthier option for my 2-3 daily cups of coffee.  I realize there’s always good old half & half with a sweetener, but I wanted to see what else is out there.  Here are the different options I tried.

International Delight Simply Pure / Coffeemate Natural Bliss

These are great options because they have a short list of ingredients and actually contain milk and cream!  They taste great, but be aware that they should be consumed within 7 days of opening according to the label.

In search of something not produced by these mega-creamer brands, I kept searching.

Homemade Coconut Milk Creamer

Inspired to make my own creamer at home, I started out with this recipe from a paleo blog.

Easy enough, right?  I decided to use honey instead of the coconut sugar/stevia, and I combined it all in a clean coffee creamer container.

It made this great froth on the top of my coffee that looked appealing, but I’ve got to be honest – I might have made some terrible sounds while trying to drink this.  Coconut milk is not creamy enough for my taste, and it gives an odd flavor to the coffee.  This was my least favorite creamer recipe.

The other issue with this recipe is that the coconut milk solidifies when refrigerated.  I’m not sure how people work around that, but that’s not conducive to getting a good first cup of coffee when I’m still groggy in the morning!

If you’re curious about coconut milk’s nutrition information, here it is.

Silk Almond Milk Creamer

Next up, I tried Silk’s almond milk creamer in vanilla.  At HEB, it’s in the fridge right next to the traditional coffee creamers.

My review: delicious!  It’s creamy and sweet, and I wish they carried this in other flavors at my store.  I would buy them all.  Plus, it has fewer calories, fat, and sugar than the Simply Pure coffee creamer.

SO Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer

I was hesitant to try any more creamers with coconut milk, but the fact that this hadn’t solidified in the store fridge persuaded me to take a chance.  The first one I tried is the “original” flavor.

As you can see, its nutrition facts are even better than the almond creamer above.  But again, this coconut creamer was just not creamy enough for me.  I passed it along to a friend who drinks it before I could finish the carton.

Luckily for SO Delicious, I purchased the french vanilla flavor at the same time, and what an amazing difference!  The vanilla creamer – though not quite as healthy – tastes great and gets two thumbs up from me.

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk Creamer

Using a recipe from mrshappyhomemaker.com, I made this three-ingredient vanilla creamer.

• 14oz sweetened condensed milk
• 1 3/4 cup milk or cream (whole, lowfat, skim, almond, soy, heavy cream, half & half etc – whatever your preference)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

It nearly filled up a 32 ounce creamer container.

Using sweetened condensed milk feels sinful (I might have been licking the can after mixing it up!).  It’s more affordable than buying pre-made creamer, but it’s not quite as healthy.

Conclusion

For my daily cup of coffee, I will probably alternate between the Silk Almond Milk creamer and the SO Delicious flavored coconut milk creamers.  For special occasions (and possibly the whole season of fall), I’m planning to make the sweetened condensed milk creamer, since there’s a recipe to make it pumpkin spice flavored!

What’s your favorite creamer and/or recipe?  Please share!  I know there are lots of options I haven’t even tried!