Homemade Egg Nog

One of our family Christmas traditions is to decorate the tree and then have a glass of egg nog while admiring the tree.  This year the grocery store was out of egg nog, so I thought I would attempt it on my own.  I have to admit that egg nog has always been somewhat of an enigma to me, a thick drink with eggs, really?  Plus I don't especially like it, I mean I can barely get it down, so I try to sneak a glass of hot chocolate or coffee while my husband and kids enjoy the egg nog.  I searched for a recipe and it didn't seem too difficult, but of course I didn't have several of the ingredients.  I made adjustments to what I had on hand and it turned out way better than store bought.  I don't know why I would be surprised at that, but man, it was GOOD!  And very obtainable.  This version is not too rich, you could make it a little richer by replacing ⅓ of the milk with heavy cream.  You have to try this, it really is easy and such an incredible holiday treat!  I may never buy store bought again!

Homemade Egg Nog

Ingredients:

8 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

6 cups whole milk

1 vanilla bean, split and seed scraped

¾ teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Cooking Directions:

With an electric mixer, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow.  In a dutch oven or large pan add milk, vanilla beans with seeds, nutmeg, and cinnamon over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.   Remove from heat and pour about 1 cup of milk mixture into eggs, whisking as you pour to temper the eggs.  Stir into remaining milk mixture and continue to cook over medium-high heat until thickened.  Chill for 4 hours or completely cooled and serve.

Enjoy!
Miss