Coffee Creamer Can Transform Your Cocktails

As summer winds down, we start dreaming of sweet cocktails with fall and winter flavors, which only get tastier when they're creamy and velvety. That luscious texture is easily achieved with the simple use of coffee creamer. You can build drinks around the creamer, add a splash to transform tipples with silky richness, or you can use creamer in place of heavy cream in some recipes — as long as it's dairy so you get the same consistency results.

A big part of the appeal with creamers in cocktails is the range of flavors you can work with. We recently tested Coffee Mate's seasonal flavors, and the Kit Kat creamer would be a fun update for a chocolate martini, while the Caramel Apple Crisp could turn a cinnamon whiskey coffee tipple into an apple pie update, and the Zero-Sugar White Chocolate Peppermint could give a grasshopper a holiday twist. Essentially, you'll find mixology inspiration in any of your favorite creamer flavors, you just have to know the basics of mixing creamers into tipples. 

Start by picking the best coffee creamer brand for you. This allows the flexibility of using non-dairy options, but you may find some textural differences if you use a dairy-free version in place of heavy cream. Remember proportions — most cocktails call for about 1 to 2 ounces for the perfect balance of creaminess that won't overwhelm other ingredients. And last but not least, shaking these drinks is a good idea to really incorporate and froth them. 

An easy place to start is the classics. Take that retro grasshopper cocktail, made with white crème de cacao, crème de menthe, and heavy cream. Instead of 1 ounce of heavy cream, use that Zero-Sugar White Chocolate Peppermint creamer, or a peppermint mocha creamer. Finish it off by garnishing with a candy cane or a rim of crushed peppermints. Or, there's the white Russian, a blank canvas for assorted creamer flavors. To complement its Kahlua coffee kick, swap out the ounce of heavy cream for mocha or hazelnut creamers, or go seasonal with pumpkin spice and top the drink with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice. While there's no cream in an espresso martini recipe, ½ of an ounce of creamer in your shaker would make the frothy head even creamier, and you can add any flavor from International Delight's Cinnabon offering to Coffee Mate's Himalayan Salted Caramel. 

On the martini note, you can build any desserty martini around a creamer flavor. Make a chocolatini with International Delight's Hershey's Chocolate Caramel creamer, vodka, and chocolate liqueur; a pecan pie martini with French vanilla creamer, bourbon, amaretto, Frangelico, and brown sugar; or a sugar cookie martini with sugar cookie creamer, vodka, and amaretto. Rum fans will love a boozy root beer float, with root beer, spiced rum, and vanilla creamer. You can even take a non-creamy cocktail and transform it: Make a creamy coconut mojito by adding coconut crème coffee creamer to lime, mint, soda water, and white rum.