What's better than adding milk or cream to coffee? Vanilla Sweet Cream! This
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Who wants to add milk, cream, or almond milk to their iced coffee when Vanilla Sweet Cream is an option?
The sweet cream requires just three ingredients and can be made ahead and enjoyed any time. It can also be easily turned into cold foam if you want to make your iced coffee drinks even more delicious!
This homemade coffee add-in acts as both the dairy and sweetener for your coffee drinks and you can feel free to add as much of it as you want!
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
Vanilla Sweet Cream is so easy to make in your kitchen and so easy to keep stored in your fridge for whenever the craving hits.
You can add it to your hot coffee in the morning or your iced coffee on a hot day. Pour as much in as you want and it will completely transform your coffee in the best way!
Oh, and you can even use it in baked goods like cakes, muffins, and even pancakes if you want.
Of course, you do need to be able to consume dairy to enjoy vanilla sweet cream at
My version does involve milk and heavy cream, but I also share some ideas for making this a dairy-free sweet cream.
🗒 Ingredients
The ingredients for homemade vanilla sweet cream are super simple. Here's everything required (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- 2% milk
- Heavy cream
- Vanilla syrup: you can make homemade vanilla syrup using my recipe or you can purchase a bottle of it. I like Starbucks vanilla syrup, but you can use any brand.
🥛 How to make Vanilla Sweet Cream
Have I mentioned how easy this recipe is?
If you're planning to make your own vanilla syrup, you can use the recipe in the recipe card at the bottom of this post or see all recipe details here.
Now, just add milk, heavy cream, and vanilla syrup to a mason jar and shake well to combine.
If you don't have a mason jar, you can stir all the ingredients together in a bowl.
Just make sure you put the sweet cream in an airtight container before storing it.
And then you can use it however you want! Of course, pouring it into a tall glass of iced coffee or cold brew is the best way.
I usually love my coffee black, but I've been on a major vanilla sweet cream kick lately, especially for my afternoon cold brew coffee.
Even just a little splash adds the most wonderful smooth flavor dimension.
🧋 What to do with vanilla sweet cream
There are so many different ways to use your homemade sweet cream aside from just pouring it into your coffee cups.
Here are some of my favorite ideas:
- Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew: OK, so this encompasses pouring it into your cup of coffee, but once you have your homemade vanilla sweet cream, you can turn it into a Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew. All you need is some high-quality cold brew and more vanilla syrup.
- Turn it into cold foam: If you want cold foam that settles on top of your iced coffee drinks for a fun look and tasty sip, you can easily turn the sweet cream into homemade cold foam. All you have to do is put it in an electric frother or beat it with a hand mixer or blender. I recommend doing this right before you're ready to enjoy your drink.
- Sweet cream pancakes: I've used my vanilla sweet cream to make the most delicious pancakes... Vanilla Sweet Cream Pancakes! They're rich and tender and packed with vanilla flavor.
- Tea mixer: If you're a tea drinker, stir the mixture into your tea. I especially like it in black tea.
- Oatmeal ingredient: Instead of using regular milk to make your oatmeal, use sweet cream instead! This will turn a boring bowl of oatmeal into a decadent morning treat.
- Cocktail addition: Try making your creamy cocktails with vanilla sweet cream. White Russians, espresso martinis, and more will be taken to a whole new level.
- Baking ingredient: Instead of the standard milk, use this in recipes for cupcakes, muffins, cakes, donuts, and more.
- Hot milk cake: This hot milk cake would be so, so good made with vanilla sweet cream!
⏲️ How to store
Be sure to keep your vanilla sweet cream in an airtight container in the fridge- I like using mason jars.
The mixture will stay fresh for as long as the milk and cream remain fresh. So, be sure to check out the expiration dates on your milk and cream for an indication of how long it will be good for.
🎉 More flavor ideas
Vanilla sweet cream is the gold standard at
I typically turn the sweet creams into cold foams for my recipes, but if you don't froth/beat them, they'll stay simple sweet creams.
Here are some flavor favorites:
- Chocolate Cream Cold Brew {Starbucks Copycat}
- Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew {Starbucks Copycat}
- Pistachio Cream Cold Brew {Starbucks Copycat}
- Cinnamon Caramel Cream Cold Brew {Starbucks Copycat}
- White Chocolate Macadamia Cream Cold Brew {Starbucks Copycat}
- Iced Lavender Cream Oatmilk Matcha {Starbucks Copycat}
Other flavors that would be great include:
- Cinnamon
- Hazelnut
- Caramel
- Eggnog
- Strawberry
- Raspberry
- Almond
- Mint
- Maple
🥣 How to make dairy-free
You can easily make this with any kind of milk or dairy-free milk you like! I often use the 2% milk and heavy cream mixture because it is great for easy frothing and turning into cold foam.
But if you're not frothing your sweet cream, that won't matter. And even if you are frothing it, most dairy-free milks froth well.
Here are some dairy alternatives you can use:
- Oat milk (if you can find barista edition dairy milk, that is the creamiest and best for this!)
- Coconut milk
- Almond milk
- Soy milk
- Dairy-free heavy cream: if you want your sweet cream to be extra indulgent and creamy, I do recommend adding some cream. Lots of brands are coming out with dairy-free creams, like Silk. But you can also use coconut cream or cashew cream if you prefer.
I hope this vanilla sweet cream recipe helps turn your summer iced coffees from good to great and that you always have a jar of it in your fridge!
Let me know what flavor sweet cream you're making it and how you're using it in the comments below!
📖 Recipe
Vanilla Sweet Cream {Starbucks Copycat}
Ingredients
- ¾ cup 2% milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoon vanilla syrup (store-bought or with recipe below)
Vanilla Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean split lengthwise
Instructions
- Mix milk, cream, and vanilla syrup in a mason jar and shake to combine. Alternatively, you can stir all ingredients together in a bowl.
- If you're not using right away, keep in an airtight container in the fridge.
Vanilla Syrup
- Put water and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture has thickened a bit.
- Pour syrup into a heat-proof jar or container. Scrape out some of the seeds from the sliced open vanilla pod with a sharp knife and add them and the vanilla bean into the syrup.
- Place syrup in fridge and let steep for at least 6 hours. Syrup will thicken more as it cools. If you want a more intense vanilla flavor, you can leave the bean in after 6 hours.
- When vanilla syrup is stored in an airtight container in the fridge, it should stay good for about a month.
Notes
- Note that if you're making your own vanilla syrup, it will need about 6 hours to steep. If you are in a rush and don't want to wait 6 hours for syrup to infuse, let it cool and shake jar vigorously to infuse vanilla flavor faster. Taste before using.
- Servings are dependent on how much you like to use in your coffee.
- Sweet cream should keep in your fridge in an airtight container for as long as the milk and cream are good (when milk and cream are expired, cold cream shouldn't be used anymore).
- To make chocolate sweet cream, simply add 2 ½ tablespoon chocolate malt powder. To make additional flavors, you can any flavor syrup you want instead of vanilla. See post body for more ideas.
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