Peppermint Mocha Creamer

Generally I'm a black coffee drinker.  I like the taste of plain coffee.  I am not crazy about any flavored coffees.  It's like the bacon flavored donuts.  All it does is confuse the message from my brain to my taste buds.  I did a blog about discovering flavored iced coffee.  Cold coffee changed my mind set so it can accept the flavor.  My family has a different opinion about coffee.  They like the flavors.  For family meals I either have to remember to buy creamer, or they bring it themselves.  One of my son-in-laws can not stand coffee, but he has probably never had a good cup of coffee.  He is a tea snob and has brainwashed our youngest grandson into saying he doesn't like coffee, but prefers English tea.  It is all in good fun, and we joke about it.  My husband doesn't drink coffee or tea.

Coffee creamers can be rather expensive and are sometimes filled with ingredients that are questionable.  I looked on the label of a well known brand.  It had water, sugar, hydrogenated coconut oil, sodium caseinate, dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, salt, natural and artificial flavor.  The caseinate in this product is a derivative of milk.  I couldn't find a creamer that didn't have milk or if it was milk free, it was full of chemicals kind of like margarine.  I read that margarine is one molecule away from being plastic.  Fake milk is the same thing.  That is why I was excited to find a youtube video by Elizabeth Medero on making natural creamers.  If you want to see the video, just search for her name and Peppermint Mocha Creamer on Youtube.  There are a lot of copy cat recipes for Starbuck's peppermint mocha drink, but this is a creamer you can keep in the refrigerator and add to your coffee or even hot chocolate, whenever you want.  I used Almond Milk for a non milk option, and it isn't very thick and creamy but it tastes delicious.  At least for me, but I don't have much experience with creamers.  Hopefully you will like it too.

Ingredients you will need for this recipe. 

Peppermint Mocha Creamer

3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t. cocoa powder
1/2 t. vanilla
2 cups milk

Mix together 3/4 cup water and 3/4 cup of white sugar.  Bring this to a boil to make a simple syrup.  When all the sugar is dissolved, mix in the cocoa powder and vanilla.  Add 1 drop of peppermint essential oil (my new best friend) and 2 cups of the milk of your choice.  It can be heavy cream, half and half, whole milk, skim milk, soy milk, coconut milk, almond milk or any milk you want. 

Mix together.  As you can tell, over two cups of creamer can be made for pennies instead of dollars.  I would imagine you could experiment with different flavors and spices.  Leave out the cocoa and add pumpkin pie spice for a pumpkin flavored creamer.