How To Turn Your Favorite Coffee Creamer Into A No-Frills Icing

If you need a quick icing, you need to know about this two-ingredient hack featuring items you likely already have in your pantry — especially if you're a coffee drinker. The ingredients are powdered sugar and your favorite coffee creamer, such as a simple sweet cream or vanilla flavor. By mixing these two ingredients, you'll create an easy icing that is sweet and a little milky in flavor — and, overall, the perfect companion to a plethora of desserts, such as homemade cinnamon rolls.

To make the simple icing, start with 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of coffee creamer. This will yield an icing that is a bit thick, so if you prefer a thinner consistency, then add a second tablespoon of creamer. Simply whisk the two ingredients together in a mixing bowl until smooth.

If you feel like the icing is lacking flavor — either because you used a basic creamer or you used vanilla but want a stronger impact — then you can add in ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract to transform the recipe into vanilla icing, which will pair well with just about any dessert. Of course, adding vanilla extract is not the only way to infuse flavor into this easy icing.

As mentioned above, this icing will taste delicious with a simple creamer, such as one that has a sweet cream flavor. But you can also use the wide variety of coffee creamer flavors to make an icing that is a bit more unique. For example, maybe you enjoy a salted caramel flavor in your morning coffee — so why not try a salted caramel icing? This could be a great fit for basic sugar cookies that you want to elevate.

Or, in the fall, there is no shortage of pumpkin spice coffee creamers on grocery store shelves. Maybe you want to try out an easy pumpkin spice icing to pair with an autumnal dessert, such as pumpkin bread. Even a hazelnut coffee creamer would make for a tasty icing if you love a nutty infusion in a dessert. Try drizzling hazelnut icing over classic buttery pound cake for some unexpected extra flavor.

If you only have the sweet cream flavor on hand and don't want to run out to the store, you can still play around with various flavors with ingredients you likely already have at home. For example, instead of adding vanilla extract, swap that out for almond extract for another way to achieve that nutty sweetness. Or, take the coffee theme to the next level and replace the vanilla extract with a small amount of (cold) brewed coffee for a delicious coffee-flavored icing.