Eggnog

If you’ve ever made homemade ice cream that starts with a cooked custard base, you’ll find this method for making homemade eggnog very similar.

Start out by combining whole milk with cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a saucepan, heating slowly just until it begins to boil. The ground cinnamon will want to clump up and look a bit unappealing at this point, but don’t worry. It will all come together in the end.

Then add sugar to the egg yolks.

And whisk like crazy, until the mixture lightens in color and thickens. Keep whisking until you see soft ridges forming.

Then, slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, again whisking vigorously. Do take care to pour in the hot liquid slowly, to incorporate hot into cold at a very relaxed pace to eliminate the forming of scrambled eggs.

Pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan and heat again until thickened and lightly foamy, and then let it cool for a while.

Next, add rum and half-and-half. And a little brandy, too, if you like. Using only rum will give you a cleaner flavor, while brandy rounds it out and warms it up just a bit.

Of course, you can leave out the alcohol entirely. I made a batch alcohol-free, just to be sure this same recipe was worthy of drinking that way as well. And it is, indeed. Our girls have found the eggnog to be an excellent after-school treat.

A traditional eggnog recipe will have you whipping raw egg whites to fold into the eggnog right before serving, and then grating some fresh nutmeg over the top. But I did away with those raw egg whites. And to make up for the loss of body to the drink, I whipped some cream until softly firm and then whisked it into the eggnog. The hack works great. But feel free to whip up some egg whites, if you want. I’ll be trying that method myself before the year is over!