Eggnog Adventures

Do you love eggnog, but hate buying it?

Stop buying the eggnog and make it from scratch, instead!

My brother-in-law recently asked me if I had ever found a homemade eggnog recipe. I can honestly say, I had never even thought to make my own eggnog. I always just bought it, in the past. Of course, I always feel guilty letting my kiddos have the store-bought stuff, with ingredients that aren’t easy to pronounce, like carrageenan, mono and diglycerides, disodium phosphate, as well as high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup. I like to use more natural ingredients in the recipes we make.

After talking to my brother-in-law, and reading the ingredients label of the store bought eggnog, my kids and I decided to set to work coming up with a recipe we liked and could feel better about drinking, or using in our baking.

Batch #1

Our first recipe we tried didn’t turn out so well. The flavor was alright, however, we scorched it. Whoops! It was awful. Even after straining it three times, it still had a mush-like consistency. Nobody wants that. We want a custard-like, smooth consistency. Not to worry, this is something that can, and will, happen while baking or cooking. It’s part of the trial and error process. Without it, we learn nothing. The important thing is that you DO NOT give up! You’ve got this! Keep going. Eventually, you will succeed.

My failure with this batch is that I relied HEAVILY on my thermometer. I did not realize my thermometer was inaccurate, resulting in the scorching. Lesson learned.

With this first batch, we tried whisking the sugar and yolks by hand. I wouldn’t recommend this. It didn’t allow for the yolks to get as thick and creamy as they needed to be. I used an electric hand mixer in the 2nd and 3rd attempts, and it worked much better.

Batch #2

This eggnog attempt was slightly better, ish. I opted not to rely so much on my thermometer, and decided to eye-ball it. This went over better. The consistency was smooth. It was thinner than I had hoped for, but it was smooth. I got this loony idea to add turmeric to the mix, to achieve a slightly more yellow color. The funny thing about turmeric is that the color didn’t show up much at first. I could hardly tell that I had put any in. The color hadn’t changed, resulting in me adding more turmeric, then even more. It didn’t seem to change much, and I didn’t want to add too much, changing the flavor of the eggnog itself.

Giving up on the coloring, I moved on to the consistency. As mentioned above, it was smooth, but thin. I put it back on the heat, in an attempt to thicken it up. It didn’t work. I didn’t want to scorch it again, so I decided I’d thicken it with a tiny amount of cornstarch mixed with water Big mistake. At first, it was great, but after it had cooled in the fridge overnight, it had thickened AND turned yellow. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but this batch ended up looking like a thick curry sauce, which is unappealing in an eggnog recipe. As far as the flavor goes, it was okay. It wasn’t as sweet as I like my eggnog to be, and now it was thick and yellow.

In the pictures below, you can see how different the electric hand mixer made the yolks look. The color changed from a bright yellow to a pale yellow. Also note the color of the eggnog this batch. The last picture is the 2nd attempt compared with the 1st attempt.

On to the next attempt!

Batch #3

This third attempt went much better! We achieved a nice consistency, not too thin, No yellow coloring. Added enough sweetness to it. It was a win! Usually an eggnog recipe says to heat the eggnog to 160 degrees F, then remove it from the heat. Because I was eye-balling it, I wanted to test to see how hot the liquid was by the time I felt like it was thick enough. I learned that anywhere between 160 F and 180 F will do the trick, and shouldn’t scorch IF you watch it closely, whisking, as well as using a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and corners of the pan.

This recipe turned out great! It had WAY more flavor than the other two attempts, and WAY more flavor than the store-bought eggnog. I can drink it straight, add it to my coffee, or use it to make an eggnog flavored dessert. Definitely keeping this one!

Picture for comparison.

I’m so glad I tried making my own eggnog. I had no idea it was so easy to make, and I cannot believe the flavor difference! If you like eggnog, I encourage you to give it a try! Hopefully, like me, you won’t be disappointed.

Now the final recipe!

What you’ll need:

• Electric hand mixer
• Candy thermometer

Ingredients:

• Whole milk
• Heavy cream
• White sugar
• Egg yolks
• Ground nutmeg
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground cloves
• Vanilla
• Rum extract

Steps:

1. In a smaller mixing bowl, add your egg yolks and white sugar. Using an electric hand mixer on low, beat yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow in color.

2. In a saucepan, combine whole milk, heavy cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

3. Over med/high heat, heat the milk up till it almost boils. Be sure to whisk the whole time, to avoid scorching. You don’t want it to boil, you are just looking for it to get really warm(steam is a good sign).

4. Remove from heat, and using 1/3c-1/2c at a time, slowly incorporate the hot milk mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking well between each addition. Continue adding hot milk to the yolk mixture until 1/4 of the hot milk remains in the pan.

5. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan, and return the pan to the stovetop, over a med/low heat. I do this at about a 4 temperature.

6. Whisking constantly, heat liquid until it is between 160 degrees F and 180 degrees F. Use a rubber spatula to get the corners of the pan, and continue whisking. Look for consistency while waiting for the liquid to heat up. Dip the rubber spatula into the liquid every now and again, and watch how the eggnog coats the spatula. If it coats the spatula well, and takes a few seconds to drip off, it’s close to being ready, or is ready. Watch it closely, do NOT scorch it.

7. Once the eggnog has heated up and looks slightly thicker, remove the pan from the heat, add in the vanilla and rum extract. Whisk it well.

8. Let cool to room temperature, then add to a mason jar and refrigerate for a few hours. I like to let is sit overnight, to make sure it’s nice and cold.

9. Enjoy!