Caramel Coffee Creamer | Homemade Caramel Brulée Latte

Caramel Coffee Creamer is a quick and easy homemade recipe for making Copycat Starbucks Caramel Brulée Lattes at home!

Caramel Coffee Creamer and Homemade Caramel Brulée Latte with text overlay.

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If you enjoy caramel treats, you'll also love Caramel Croissant Bread Pudding, Caramel Apple Cider, and Caramel Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze!

Every morning, I depend on a steamy mug of coffee to help me get going. And when I have a batch of homemade coffee creamer in the fridge, I eagerly look forward to that cup o' joe from the moment I wake up!

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a gal who likes frou-frou coffee...generous on the milk or cream, lightly to moderately sweetened, and bonus points for yummy flavorings. But since I'm also a gal who checks the ingredient list of products I buy at the grocery store, I can't in good conscience enjoy most store-bought coffee creamers, which are loaded with not-so-natural ingredients and unpronounceable additives.

Jar of homemade Caramel Coffee Creamer.

Why Make Your Own Coffee Creamer?

So a few years back, I started making my own homemade coffee creamers.

  • They're easy to whip up.
  • They're incredibly delicious.
  • And best of all, I get to control the ingredients!

Today's Caramel Coffee Creamer is inspired by my favorite drink at Starbucks: the limited-time, only-available-during-the-holidays Caramel Brulée Latte!

That's right...while most people go crazy for Pumpkin Spice Lattes, I couldn't care less. I'm impatiently waiting for the red cups to come out so that I can get my CBL fix. And boy do I cram in enjoying a bunch of lattes in that one short month of the year...

When I recently decided to come up with a new homemade coffee creamer flavor, it occurred to me that perhaps it would be fun to copycat the flavors in my favorite latte. So ta-daaaa...Homemade Caramel Coffee Creamer was born! And y'all, it makes me inexplicably happy to be able to enjoy my favorite Starbucks drink any ol' day of the year.

Streaming into cup of coffee.

Ingredients

I knew I needed to include caramel in my creamer, but I didn't want to start with a store-bought jarred caramel sauce, since I was going for the whole "controlling my own ingredients" theme here.

So I decided to make a partial recipe of my favorite (and super easy) 5-Minute, 5-Ingredient Homemade Caramel Sauce as the base. It calls for the simple, straightforward ingredients of butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt.

Then I basically just mixed in half-and-half to transform said caramel sauce into creamer. Oh. My. YUM.

Close-up of homemade Caramel Brulée Latte.

Tweaking to Your Liking

Depending on how sweet you prefer your flavored creamer, you can choose to add more or less half-and-half. I recommend starting with the amount called for the in the recipe -- 1 cup, which will give you homemade creamer about as sweet as store-bought creamers. Then try it out with a little coffee. If you deem the concentration to be too sweet, add a bit more half-and-half until the creamer suits your tastes.

Aerial view of Caramel Coffee Creamer and homemade Caramel Brulée Latte.

I am not a morning person, y'all...not by a longshot. But I actually don't mind waking up (as much) when I know this Caramel Coffee Creamer is waiting for me in the fridge. Hope it brightens your mornings, too!

More Coffee Treats and Warm Drinks

Caramel Brulée Coffee Creamer being poured into cup of coffee.

Caramel Coffee Creamer

Caramel Coffee Creamer is a quick and easy homemade recipe for making Copycat Starbucks Caramel Brulée Lattes at home!
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 8 servings (approximately 1 ½ cups creamer)
Calories: 112kcal
Print Pin Rate

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ¼ cup light brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream
  • Pinch of salt, about half of ⅛ teaspoon
  • 1 cup half-and-half, plus additional, if desired -- see Tips & Tricks below*
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

  • In a medium saucepan set over medium-low to medium heat, melt butter. Mix in the brown sugar and stir for 2 minutes. Mix in the heavy cream and stir for 2 more minutes. Stir in the salt and the half-and-half and heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbles start forming around the edges of the saucepan and the creamer is very warm. Remove the saucepan from the heat and blend in the vanilla. Allow to cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes before transferring to a jar or bottle and storing in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days (or until the expiration date of the heavy cream and/or half-and-half that you used).

Notes

  • Use real butter here...no substitutions! Salted butter is recommended for this recipe but unsalted would work as well.
  • Be sure your saucepan is deep enough to account for the bubbling caramel that will rise up the sides of the pan as it cooks.
  • When made as directed with 1 cup half-and-half, this creamer is pretty sweet and concentrated which, once added to coffee, more closely mimics a Starbucks Caramel Brulée Latte. If you prefer a less sweet creamer, you may increase the half-and-half up to 1 ½ cups total. I recommend initially making the recipe with 1 cup half-and-half and then, if you think the creamer is too sweet, add additional half-and-half ¼ cup at a time.
  • Store-bought half-and-half is a mixture of 50% heavy cream and 50% whole milk. So if you have those ingredients, you can make your own half-and-half rather than buying it.
  • The flavor of the vanilla comes through in this creamer, so be sure to use a good-quality, pure vanilla extract.

Nutrition

Calories: 112kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 41mg | Potassium: 48mg | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 275IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 0.1mg
Made this recipe? I'd love to see on IG!Mention @FiveHeartHome or tag #FiveHeartHome!

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5 from 5 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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16 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Thanks just made the creamer 10/28/2023
    Drinking it n my coffee right now @6:10 pm and it’s delicious
    Thanks again👍🏽

  2. Looking forward to trying this! I especially like that you make your own caramel sauce--bet I revisit that a few times too!

    Is the serving size for this 1 1/2 tbls? I think it says cups at the top, which would be alright by me, but I probably ought to use a little self control!

    Thanks again!

    1. Hi Heather! The nutrition information for this recipe is calculated for a 1-tablespoon serving. The whole recipe yields 2 cups, which makes 32 (1-T.) servings. Hope that helps!

  3. How do I calculate the calories? I googled what a kcal is but by those calculations there’d be 112,000 calories which obviously can’t be right. I made this tonight and can’t wait to try it in the morning!

  4. 5 stars
    Thank you for the amazing recipe. I am vegan and have been looking for an amazing creamer recipe that I could easily adapt, and this was the one! To make this vegan I used 2 Tbs of margarine, and 1 1/4 of oat milk. Everything else stayed the same and I followed the directions to a T. This came out absolutely brilliant! It's so good, I feel like I'm getting milk, without breaking my ethical views. Thanks again 🙂

    1. I just recommend adding it to taste, Annalisa! Some people prefer more creamer than others. Start with a little bit and gradually add more until your coffee is how you like it. 🙂

  5. I can't use "real" butter as I have a dairy allergy, but it would work well with a good casein free margarine (most margarine has milk protein in it). The heavy cream can be substituted with Nutpods regular creamer and a pinch of xanthan gum, or canned coconut cream, or any dairy substitute with a pinch of cream of tartar. Nutpods regular is the equivalent of half-and-half.

    I'm sure this would be delicious. I'll have to try it.

  6. Wowzer...this Caramel Brûlée creamer is the real thing and much better than that store bought with awful hydrogenated oil! Thanks Samantha for putting an extra smile on my face in the morning!!

  7. Want! Since I stopped visiting coffee houses that don't use Fair Trade and organic coffees, I don't get these kinds of treats any more, and I miss them. Thank you! Sharing and pinning. I can see a new addiction on the horizon. : )

  8. I'll admit I've never had Starbucks Caramel Brûlée latte, so I have no idea what it tastes like; but am I missing something?? Where is caramel flavor coming from in this recipe??

    1. I've actually tried, Les, but I can't find a good hazelnut extract that doesn't end up tasting like alcohol! :/ So I've scrapped the idea for now. Maybe I'd have to soak and puree real hazelnuts and incorporate that into a creamer somehow? But that sounds like more effort than most people would be willing to invest, so I'll keep searching for a high-quality hazelnut extract and I'll definitely let you know if I'm successful! I happen to be a fan of hazelnut creamer as well... 😉