All-Natural Irish Coffee Creamer

Flavored coffee creamers are undoubtedly a favorite of many coffee drinkers. To prove this, all I have to do is go to my local convenience store or the break room at work where people line up behind the bottle of flavored creamer. Unfortunately, every flavored creamer I’ve come across is pretty much all about the artificial ingredients. When I read the labels I find very little of what is recognizable as real food, and I also see descriptions like “artificial flavorings,” and “artificial colorings.” It’s pretty widely known that many of the artificial ingredients found in processed foods are linked to increased risk for cancer, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, GI disturbance, sugar imbalances and mental health problems. As a home health nurse, and as a consumer, this concerns me considering how much of the stuff the public consumes every day!

For St. Patrick’s Day I have a recipe that’s a healthy alternative to the flavored creamers found at the grocery store. My All-Natural Irish Coffee Creamer isn’t just free of artificial ingredients, but I promise that it’s really easy to make and it’s delicious!

All-Natural Irish Coffee Creamer

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 C “milk” of choice (half & half, milk, coconut milk, almond milk, etc.)
• 2 Tbsp  organic raw sugar
• 2 tsp organic cocoa powder
• 1 tsp real almond extract
• 1 tsp real vanilla extract
• A jar with a lid for shaking things up
• … and of course a cup of coffee!

Directions

1. Choose your “milk.” This will depend on your dietary needs and preferences. This can easily be made dairy-free, or even vegan. In my photos I used 1/2 C of half & half and 1/2 cup of 1% milk. I like the creaminess of half & half, but I wanted to cut the fat.

2. In a jar with a lid, combine your cocoa powder, almond extract, and vanilla extract. It’s really important that you use organic cocoa powder (even though it’s a bit pricy) as conventional cocoa powder is produced with chemicals. Also, read your labels when purchasing your almond and vanilla extract, being sure it’s the real stuff and not “imitation.”

3. Next: SHAKE

4. And: POUR!