Coffee Queen

This mommy NEEDS that cup of Joe in the morning! :) I never drank coffee until after I started my family. Now, I can't imagine a day without my cup! You can take all my sweets, but don't take my coffee. However, I've run into a dilemma recently because I am trying to eat as clean as possible. So with this, I now need to start making my own creamer if I want to continue my coffee drinking. Let's dig into some recipes and try them out. I'm game! I don't want to work so hard trying to eat healthy every other way and still hold onto something that just isn't good for me. I'm a hazelnut fan, but I'm going to share a few recipes with you tonight.

HAZELNUT
This is the real deal, and it tastes like real, honest-to-goodness hazelnuts! Toasting the nuts is a necessity; don’t skip this step. If you do, you’ll be disappointed in the taste of your creamer.

• 2 cups base (whole milk/almond or coconut milk)
• 1 cup hazelnuts, toasted
• 1 T sugar (I use organic sugar for this recipe, you can use honey or maple syrup, but that will affect the taste.) or Stevia
• 2 t pure vanilla extract

Take your hazelnuts and toast them over medium heat in a skillet, stirring constantly, until they begin to brown and start giving off a lovely aroma. (You can also place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally). They are done toasting when the nuts are fragrant.Pour your toasted nuts into a kitchen towel and let them cool completely. After the nuts are cool, fold your towel up and give the nuts a good shake and rub; this will remove the papery husks from the nuts (this won’t work well until the nuts have cooled). If there are a few stuck hulls, don’t worry. You just want most of them gone. 
Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor for about 15 seconds or so, until the nuts are broken apart into small pieces (but don’t turn your base to whipped cream…while the end result of over-blending is great as a pudding-like dessert, not so much for a creamer). Pour into a saucepan and heat over low heat until warm. Remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes, then strain and pour into a container to store in the refrigerator. Shake well before using.

COCONUT

• 2 cups milk base
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 2 T sugar or Stevia (I use organic)

Place all ingredients in your blender and whizz until incorporated and the coconut flakes are chopped fine. Strain your creamer to remove the larger bits of coconut flake, and store in the refrigerator.

MAYAN MOCHA
.If you like spicy food, give this creamer a try! You might find it to be a bit addicting! But I did make this spicy, so be prepared for a kick!

• 2 cups milk base
• 4 T cocoa powder
• 5 T honey
• 1 t pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper

Place all ingredients in your blender and whizz until combined. Pour into a container and store in the refrigerator, shaking well before use.

FRENCH VANILLA
You can’t beat the taste of real vanilla! While you can use all pure vanilla extract for this, using beans will just make it that much better (but be sure to shake before use; as you can see from the photo, the beans will float to the top).Since vanilla is the star here, elevate it with real beans!

• 2 cups base
• 1 t fresh vanilla beans, scraped from about 10 vanilla pods (or you can use vanilla paste)
• 1 t pure vanilla extract (double if you’re not using the real beans)
• 1 T sugar or Stevia

Place all ingredients in your blender and whizz until combined. Pour into a container and store in the refrigerator.