‘Tis the season for all things cozy and this gingerbread coffee creamer will turn your morning cup of joe into one big warm hug! It’s creamy, lightly sweet, and full of rich warm spices. I’m not going to lie, this creamer is so delicious that I’m tempted to just warm it up in a mug by itself and sip on it as an alternative to hot cocoa! Why not, right??
Why I Love This Creamer
Aside from its incredibly warm and cozy flavor, I love this gingerbread coffee creamer because it only takes a few minutes to make and it’s totally customizable. Want it sweeter? Just add some brown sugar. Want it creamier? Substitute cream for the half and half. Need a smaller (or larger) batch? No problem. The recipe scales up or down without issue.
What is Half and Half?
I used “half and half” as the base for my creamer. For those outside the U.S., half and half is a 50/50 mix of whole milk and heavy cream. It’s a common add-in for coffee and can be purchased in pretty much every grocery store in the U.S.
You can make this gingerbread coffee creamer using just cream, or make your own “half and half” by combining equal parts whole milk and cream. Sure, you could probably do it with just whole milk too, but it just wouldn’t be nearly as cozy and creamy. :)
How Long Does it Last?
There isn’t an exact expiration date for homemade creamers like this, so I’d just stick to five days in the refrigerator just to be on the safe side. Luckily, you can make this creamer in very small batches if needed and it only takes minutes to make more when you run out, so there’s no need to risk leftovers going to waste.
How to Use Gingerbread Coffee Creamer
I set the serving size for this creamer at ¼ cup, but it’s totally up to you how much creamer you put in a cup of coffee. I can’t lie, while I was going through testing for this recipe I even drank it like a café au lait (half coffee, half milk) and it was incredible.
Serve your gingerbread coffee alongside a Snickerdoodles, Cinnamon Nut Swirl Mug Cake, Homemade Biscotti, Chocolate Molasses Cookies, or a Mini Chocolate Pecan Pie.
I also have plans to try using this gingerbread creamer in an ice cream maker. I’ll keep you posted.
Gingerbread Coffee Creamer
Servings 4 ¼ cup eachIngredients
- 1 cup half and half ($0.45)
- 1 Tbsp molasses ($0.15)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract ($0.07)
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon ($0.02)
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a small saucepot. Heat over medium, stirring often, until the half and half is hot and steaming, but not simmering (about five minutes).
- Serve hot or refrigerate until ready to serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
How to Make Gingerbread Coffee Creamer – Step by Step Photos
Start by adding one cup of half and half to a small saucepot (or one cup of cream, or any mix of cream and milk that you prefer).
Add 1 Tbsp molasses, ¼ tsp vanilla extract, ¼ tsp ground ginger, ⅛ tsp ground cloves, and ⅛ tsp cinnamon to the half and half.
Heat the creamer over medium, stirring often, until the creamer is hot and steaming, but not yet simmering. The spices will clump up while the half and half is still cold, but they’ll begin to mix in as it heats up. Heating the spices in the liquid also helps the flavors bloom and permeate throughout the creamer.
Serve your creamer hot, or refrigerate until ready to use (up to about five days). Enjoy!
This is GOOD! Great
Job with the spices- perfect!
Thank you so much for posting this. I have been sad for a bit about coffee mate no longer making the gingerbread creamer. This fit the bill. Christmas in a cup! I subbed brown sugar for the molasses cause thats what i had on hand and added a pinch of nutmeg. Heaven
I made this coffee creamer this week, and it’s my new favorite! I find myself liking it even more than pumpkin spice! It’s equally good iced or hot. Thank you for sharing!
The flavour is really nice, but I noticed something weird – it curdled a bit when I added it to my coffee, even though regular half and half, which I used to make it, does not. Any idea what’s happening?
That’s really interesting. So curdling of milk products is a factor of two elements: acid and heat. If you have more of one or both it will curdle easier. As milk begins to spoil, it gets more and more acidic. At first, when the acid is still pretty low, you won’t notice a smell or flavor, but it may curdle when it hits the hot coffee. In this case, molasses is also very slightly acidic. So it may be the small amount of acid in the molasses plus a very low acidity in your half and half was enough to make it curdle when added to the hot coffee, but the half and half alone wasn’t yet acidic enough to curdle. I hope that made sense!
Fascinating! So I’ll just make sure to use fresh half and half then. Thanks!
I attempted to halve the recipe in case I didnโt like it. It was tough measuring half the spices so I ended up just using the spices as is ย and just halved the half and half and molasses. Iโm glad I Kept the spices at their original measure as I thought ย they are very subtle in this mix. I added a teaspoon of sugar as well. overall pretty good!
I used blackstrap molasses since thatโs all I had, and added a pinch of pure stevia extract. Wow is this good! I personally love the flavor of molasses, so the stronger blackstrap taste was perfection. Thanks Beth!
This was absolutely delicious!ย
If you scald the container you store the creamer in, pour the creamer in while itโs still hot and refrigerate it eight away, it should keep a little longer.
To scald, heat water to boiling and pour in and over the container and itโs lid. A glass jar with air tight lid would work best.
I was SO excited to try this. I made it last night and added to my coffee this morning.
I don’t know what I did wrong. I followed the recipe exactly, but I really did not enjoy this. I miss the Starbucks Gingerbread Latte and while I wasn’t expecting this to be a substitute, I thought it would at least be a similar treat. Is it possible that I heated the Half & Half too much and it led to an off flavor? My gas stove sometimes overheats things. I also added a full packet of stevia to my cup of coffee to add sweetness, thinking that would balance things out. But yeah, still just tastes yuck to me.
THANKFULLY this was a cheap and easy recipe! So even though I didn’t care for it, I wasn’t out much money, time or effort. Worth a try, at least!
Hmm, it’s hard to say what you might have done wrong without tasting it myself to see what the off flavor was that you were experiencing. :( For me, stevia would have definitely thrown off the flavor, but if you’re used to using stevia in recipes then that might not have been it. I’ve never had the Starbucks gingerbread latte, so I can’t say how close in flavor this is to that, I was basing it on the flavor of gingerbread cookies. :)
I only had whole cream so I made this into whip cream and put on top a hot chocolate. IT IS HEAVEN.
Brilliant. I am going to do this right now and then I don’t have to heat it up. Plus maybe someone will want it to top a Thanksgiving dessert?
This is what I’m reading the comments for!
I will have to give this a try. Was craving a gingerbread latte this weekend and itโs no longer on the Starbucks menu (or so I read). ย Also, I am finally getting an Aldi about 2 miles from my house! ย Woo hoo!
I can’t even tell you how jealous I am you are getting an ALDI near you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This sounds heavenly! Could the molasses be subbed for something else? In my country you can’t really get the cane sugar molasses, only the one made from sugar beets and it is only for animal fodder, not for humans.
You could do other sweeteners, but it will definitely taste different. That being said, a warm, sweet, spiced milk is probably never going to taste bad, even if it’s not molasses flavored! :)
The closest thing would be treacle, if you have it.
Ok, where did you get that cute little milk bottle, and did it come with a lid?!?
I honestly have no idea where I got that! haha! As a food blogger I’m always picking up random things to use as props and I have no idea when or where I got this. But no, it did not come with a lid. :(
They have a bottle like that on Amazon – old fashioned heavy clear glass bottle. ย Not sure about this link.
I am lactose intolerant, would this process work with almond milk or oat milk?
You can use just about any “milk” as the base, keeping in mind that if you use something less creamy then the creamer will also be a lot less creamy. And the flavor of your base will also affect the flavor of the creamer. Whether or not these differences are palatable is going to be a matter of personal opinion. :)
I bet coconut milk from a can would work well! (If it’s too rich could always be thinned with some soymilk).
While making your own “half and half,” may seem like a good idea to those who drink lots of milk, I actually buy a quart of it for less than I pay for a quart of milk–which, since we don’t use very much milk, is the most economical way to buy it. Why buy a gallon or even half a gallon if we are unlikely to use more than a quart before it spoils. The supermarket half and half is usually ultra pasteurized, meaning it keeps in the fridge for 3-4 weeks even after opened. It’s the carton I grab not only for coffee, but for mashed potatoes, enriching deserts and savory dishes that want whole milk, helping out the hot chocolate (2/3 2% milk, 1/3 half and half), etc. There is even a fat free half and half for the same price as the real deal that tastes pretty good. This recipe will taste close to all of that “pumpkin spice” stuff on the market, since it uses a similarly delicious blend of flavors–love the molasses addition, BTW! Talk about making killer hot chocolate!