You’re going to have to trust me here. I know, egg in a drink just doesn't sound right. Frankly, I was worried too. But making it yourself somehow legitimises the whole egg situation. It is also not to be confused with the premixed drink Advocaat. Pleasingly this one isn't bright yellow. It’s almost like baking a cake. A cake in a cup. Full of lovely frothy boozy eggnog!
As far as eggnog goes, the rules are: there are no rules. There is no set recipe, nor is there much clarity on its origins. It has been around a long time, was historically popular with the aristocracy and is a traditional Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year winter beverage. That’s good enough for me.
You get some sugar, some egg and some cream and whisk it up. Depending on your feelings on raw eggs, you might also want to cook it. Personally my love of cookie dough overrides my fear of salmonella, but I grew up on leftover cake mix from my mum’s kitchen, so I think I have a brick in place of a stomach. Next you add alcohol. Whichever alcohol you like, though maybe not tequila. Something festive. If you want it non-alcoholic you could just add more milk.
Eggnog is served warm or cold. I drank my first cup immediately after making it, because I'm missing the restraint gene. Left to cool in the fridge, it thickened slightly and tasted even better.
There are hundreds of recipes out there. I know, I've read most of them. I based mine on one of two in Delicious magazine.
Ingredients
Makes two generous glasses
50g caster sugar
1 egg - separated
300ml milk
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
50ml alcohol – brandy, rum, bourbon or whatever you fancy
50ml whipping cream
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Directions
1. You will need two mixing bowls, a spoon or spatula, a saucepan, and an electric whisk. Please don’t attempt to whisk this by hand, it might well end in tears.
2. In a bowl, whisk the caster sugar and egg yolk until thick and creamy. It goes through a scrambled egg stage first, whisk past that until well combined and after a couple of minutes it will resemble cream.
3. Heat the milk in a pan until almost boiling. Remove from the heat and add the sugar and yolk to the hot milk, whisking as you go. Heat this mixture gently for a few minutes, stirring until smooth.
4. Add the vanilla and alcohol, give it another quick blast with the whisk, remove from heat and leave to cool. Leaving it to cool will necessitate tasting what is essentially hot brandy milk regularly to check on its temperature. You’re welcome.
5. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Soft peaks come after the snot, frothy and fizzy stages of the egg white whisking process. Fold the egg white into the cooled hot brandy milk mixture. This is the point where mine started to resemble a horror film, but I just gave it another quick whisk and all was well.
6. Beat the whipping cream until thick and fold this in, reserving a little to use as a topping along with the nutmeg. Serve immediately or chill in the fridge until ready to drink.
Image © Kate Diamond for BitchBuzz.com