Egg Nog

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the fact that Egg Nog is now in stores. Till the New Year anyway. I love egg nog. I often get it and enjoy a cup for dessert in the evening. My husband thinks I am crazy cause he is not fond of egg nog! My mom always made egg nog on Christmas Eve growing up. It was really the only time of year we had it. Till I grew up and realized I could buy it from about October - December. :-) But I took her recipe and modified it a little - okay, alot. It still has most of the same ingredients I guess........ I just used healthier options, full fat options and didn't use canned sweetened condensed milk!

Egg Nog

1 cup whole milk

1/4 c. butter

Warm in a saucepan till butter melts and milk is warm but not boiling. Stir often!

Combine, mixing very well, 2 eggs and 3 TB sugar

(I used organic unrefined cane sugar)

Slowly add the eggs/sugar to the warmed milk, stirring constantly till milk is very hot but not quite to a boil. Mine took about 4-5 minutes on Medium heat.

In a blender whip 1 cup of cream (Briefly - you don't want whipped cream!)- maybe 15-30 seconds. Add in egg and milk mixture and blend. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp nutmeg and blend.

Chill and Serve - makes 2 nice size cups

This was warm when I finished making it and of course had to try it before it cooled. It was really good warm too. In fact, if it was a cold snowy day, you might just pour into mugs and enjoy it hot. Like this view from my front door this morning! Can you see the snow falling?

Also, as it sits and cooled mine separated a little. So, if you were serving cold, you might want to just let it sit in the blender in the refrigerator and then give it another quick blend before serving. Or put in a jar and shake first. Or grab a knife from the dish drainer and stir around your cup a bit like I did!

As I was drinking it, I was also wishing I had made a little coffee. This would make a wonderful egg nog latte - mixing the coffee and egg nog together. I guess I will try that tomorrow! - Scratch that - did it already! It was yummy, of course!

Just another thought/note and question!

My original recipe didn't cook the eggs, just blended raw. Though I am not currently pregnant, I know sometimes raw eggs are not recommended to pregnant ladies and I wasn't sure if it was okay for children. So, I made my recipe to cook the egg mixture, kinda like a custard, so I didn't have to wonder. But I would be curious to know what YOUR thoughts are on raw eggs and the safety of them in pregnancy as well as for kids. I hadn't really worried about it in the store bought stuff cause they do enough pasteurizing and such I think it is okay. I don't know if it makes a difference but I usually buy the "nicer" eggs, but not always organic or true "free-range", unless they are marked down at the store and I hit a great price!

But, if you were okay with raw eggs, just take the above ingredients and blend in a blender, skipping the stovetop part, till throughly blended and enjoy.

This post is part of Kitchen Stewardship's October Fest of Super Foods