Can you substitute coffee creamer for cream milk for cooking?

I think it would depend entirely upon the dish you were making. Personally, I'd probably steer clear of using powdered creamer altogether as it always seems to have a slightly chemical aftertaste & doesn't really ever have the proper consistency. However, the liquid creamers (esp. the "sweet cream" version) can sometimes do in a pinch. Just remember that on it's own, it does not whip. I did though, quite by accident, find a way to make almost an exact heavy cream replica for desserts that DOES whip. A recent recipe call for 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 cup half & half. Out of cream, I checked my pantry and found a box of trusty ol' Dream Whip & grabbed my International Delight "Coldstone Creamery" sweet cream out of the fridge. I used 1/4 cup of each to start, added the sugar from the recipe then added little increments of Dream Whip powder until the consistency was just about dead-on!