Eggnog! With printable recipe cards

I was a bad blogger last night and didn't take any photos of the eggnog. Instead, I enjoyed eggnog with my family.

The recipe from my childhood? Turned out to be just as good as I remembered. Just as creamy impossibly thick. Of course, I probably got the seasonings all wrong, but it worked!

Um.. this? Not for the faint of heart. If you're on a diet, I recommend half cups, or giving yours to someone else. Or realizing that dieting can be a resolution for 2013, or even that the world might end tomorrow. (written 12-20-2012)

My Favorite Eggnog (and now Michael's and my kids favorite too!)
What makes the difference is whipping the cream. A lot of eggnog is made with just straight cream and milk, using very cold cream and whipping it makes a frothy, foamy, thick eggnog. When you're 10, it's impressively good. When you're *coughcough* tyone, it's still very good, and you can add rum!

This recipe is made to serve 4 if you pour full cups. If you do half cup servings, it will serve 8. Why so small? Because one of my friends was very sad there were no small batch recipes for eggnog she could find, and I tested the recipe just for my family of 4.

So first, the cooked part:

4 eggs- separated, you'll use the yolks, refrigerate or freeze the whites to use in meringues or something else later
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla - or 2 if you love vanilla like I do!

Combine milk, spices and sugar in saucepan, bring to a light boil, and whisk constantly. Let simmer for about 10 minutes while whisking. Turn off heat, and stir in vanilla.

Pour 1/4 cup of milk mixture SLOWLY into the egg yolks while whisking to temper the yolks. This keeps them from cooking on contact with the rest of the hot liquid. Pour that mixture into the pan and whisk it to mix in the egg yolks completely. Chill milk mixture.

While the milk and egg mixture is chilling, whip
1 c. heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. sugar
in a chilled bowl. Whip it to soft peaks (when you lift the mixer, whisk or egg beater, peaks will form and slump). Fold in the chilled milk mixture.

If you want to add rum, decide first if you're going to be serving some to kids. If so, just add the rum into individual cups, and stir it in well. Otherwise, you'll put the rum into the milk mixture before folding it into the whipped cream. If you just want a bit of rum flavor, use 2 Tbs, for a lightly alcoholic drink (about 1 ounce per serving) use a half cup of rum, for a stronger drink, use a full cup of rum. If you're doing individual drinks, I leave it up to you. A shot is 1.5 ounces. If you are going to use rum, please, please use a good one*. Because this is a bit of time to make and you're worth it! (Always drink responsibly!!)

So here's the printable recipe card- click on the images for larger versions.

Coconuts, Christmas and Eggnog

Apparently I'm hard to shop for. There are tons of things that I want, but when it gets down to the holidays or birthdays none of the men in my family can remember any of them. They peer over my shoulder to see what I'm looking at online, they look at my Amazon wishlist, and they check out my bookmarks. Then they ask "What do you *want* for Christmas?"

I want my family to be happy and healthy.
I want NOT to have to do dishes or hours of cooking (Yay! Chinese buffet is becoming a family tradition!)
I want to turn on the news and see nothing but goodness and happiness, but also realize how unlikely that is
This year, I want grace and healing for all the victims of the tragedies that have happened in 2012.

Some of those things are doable, others are just wishes that lots of people are working towards. It's also not at all what they mean.

They wound up going to the craft store. Apparently, when in doubt, go to Michaels!

While they were there, TG and I went out for soup and tea at the mall. A small, locally owned restaurant. We talked of all sorts of things, then met back up with my husband and son and went to the grocery store.
William decided he wanted a coconut. So we got one.

Now, I love coconut, but don't get it often. William started opening it but couldn't find the ice pick, and asked Michael to use one of his screwdrivers, instead, Michael came over with his impact driver. Because you know, any excuse to use power tools. William drained out the water and asked if any of us wanted some. Then it was time to start on the coconut. He asked for a hammer. So Michael played "Can't Touch This" before giving him a hammer. STOP! HAMMERTIME!
As we were all enjoying the coconut, I looked at them both and said "If coconuts are going to be a power tool using, song and dance production, we don't need to have them often." They both looked at each other and laughed.

Today TG and I are making eggnog following a recipe that I got as a kid. It was simply the best eggnog I'd ever had as a kid, so we will see how it compares now. Michael and I will probably put a spot of rum in ours. If it turns out as good as I recall, I'll share the recipe tomorrow.