Homemade Eggnog

 

I didn't grow up drinking eggnog, so it's never been on my list of favorite drinks. Its usually too thick, too sweet and cloying, and when spiked, its almost always too strong, ( to those that know me, I realize how confusing that last statement must be.) Last year, we decided we'd give eggnog a try, so the afternoon of Christmas Eve I drove to the store bought rum and walked over the dairy aisle only to find that all of the eggnog was sold out. Fail. We had Mai Tais that night. This year, the urge to drink the nog hit us earlier and two great things happened.

I went on and on about how I will not even finish one glass of that too sweet and too thick stuff, and seriously, two or three hours later there was Alton Brown on the Food Network teaching us how to make eggnog, from scratch! I've made a couple of tweaks, and have halved the recipe but you can multiply it as many times as you'd like and of course add as much booze as you'd like. I added Kahlua to give it a little coffee flavor, (what was I thinking putting rum in eggnog?!). A good rule of thumb for my little recipe is one part Kahlua (or other coffee liquor) to two parts bourbon.

Ingredients

2 egg yolks
2-1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus 1-1/5 teaspoons
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon Kahlua
2 egg whites

Instructions

1. Separate the yolks from the egg whites into 2 large bowls, making sure to not get any yolk in the whites. ( separate them one at a time into a little bowl, using the shells.)
2. With a hand mixer on medium speed, and using the beaters, beat the yolks until they are light in color and slightly thickened, this took me about 5 minutes. With the mixer on, slowly add in the 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. Add the milk, cream, nutmeg, bourbon and Kahlua and stir until mixed.
3. Thoroughly clean the beaters so that they are free of any yolk.
4. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, this took me about 3 minutes with my mixer on medium speed. (You will know the peaks are soft when you flip the mixer upside down and the beat egg whites that are stuck to the beaters fall over.) Add the 1-1/5 teaspoons of sugar and beat until hard peaks form, this took me about 2 minutes. (Hard peaks will not fall over when you flip the mixer.)
5. Slowly add the fluffed egg whites to the yolk mixture. Refrigerate and serve. I've found that the longer the eggnog sits in the fridge the thicker it gets... you can always whisk it a bit to lighten it up. grate a tiny bit of nutmeg on top of each glass before serving.

*photos by me