Christmas Recipe Month - Homemade Eggnog

Check back for a weekly dose of Christmas recipes all this month -  it's a digital happy hour at the Cheap$kate Chateau!

Store-bought Eggnog is too sweet and rich for The 99 Cent Chef, so I came up with a delicious recipe that uses 2% milk and a minimum amount of sugar.

This recipe is a simple and festive start-up to your holiday.

Grocery stores start selling Eggnog during Thanksgiving and finish during Christmas. So you can start practicing now so you will have the recipe down when it's time to trim the Christmas tree!

However be careful and do not get carried away -- those small airline bottles of booze mixed into an egg nog carry a kick, as the second half of the Chef's Christmas-themed video will attest.

Each ingredient cost 99.99 cents or less, even some of the airline bottles (though Lauder's Scotch in the video was $1.29 a bottle.) And dried spices are always for sale at local dollar stores and markets.

Lately, I've been buying vegetarian Eggnog, while not 99 cents, it's not outrageously expensive. They are not as sweet as the dairy version and taste similar to regular Eggnog and are creamy, too.

 

But for the real thing check out my recipe for a tasty and lighter version of Eggnog. So pour yourself a 99 cent Homemade Eggnog and enjoy the Chef's new value-added two videos in one.

Eggnog Recipe and A Tipsy Tree Trimming - Video

Play it here. The video runs 5 minutes 19 seconds.

Happy Holidays!

Click here to view or embed video on youtube.
*One ornament was broken and two fuses were blown in the making of this video.

Ingredients (2 servings)

• 3 cups of milk - or 2 cups milk and 1 cup of half and half cream for a richer nog. Okay to use 2% milk for a lighter version.
• 4 egg yolks - OK to reduce this amount to 2 yolks for an even lighter version.
• 1 tablespoon of sugar - or a sugar substitute.
• 1/4 teaspoon each of nutmeg, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.
• 1 airline 99 cent bottle of Rum, Scotch, or Brandy - about 2 ounces.

Directions

Heat 3 cups of milk over low/medium heat (do not boil) until it begins a low simmer - about 3-5 minutes.

While the milk heats up, separate egg yolks in a bowl, add sugar and whisk together for a minute to mix well. 

Add one cup of the heated milk to the yolk mixture a little at a time while whisking. 

After milk/egg is incorporated, return milk and egg to the heating pot of milk and continue cooking. 

Make sure egg nog does not boil and keep lightly whisking. The Eggnog will thicken slightly after about 10 minutes. The longer you simmer the Eggnog the thicker it will get, as it reduces.

Turn off the heat and set aside. If you can enjoy the egg nog warm - or you can refrigerate it for later. The egg nog mixture will finish thickening as it cools down to a milkshake consistency. 

Add as much or as little of an airline bottle of booze as suits your taste - my Homemade Eggnog is good with or without alcohol.