Screwin’ around with the egg nog

One of the things I and a few others at ShareMyShot.com really like about Christmas is that it’s egg nog season.

Some people don’t like it. It’s very rich and the thickness of it can be a turn-off to some. But to the people who work at a company such as ours, egg nog = opportunity. The opportunity to try a bunch of new egg nog mixes that most of us are unfamiliar with, as well as the opportunity to indulge in the more popular egg nog “bombs”.

You can keep things extremely simple by taking a double-size shot glass and filling it 3/4 with egg nog. And top it off with 1/4 of Captain Morgan rum. Maybe even drop a pinch of nutmeg on it for good measure. The famous Rum n’ Egg Nog. I’ve already had several of those this season at home. Good stuff.

And you can take a similar glass of egg nog and add a shot of peppermint, cinnamon, or butterscotch schnapps. All go pretty well with the egg nog. We’ll call these Egg Nog Bombs.

But those are the basic recipes that people have been drinking since the elusive ”nog root” was first discovered in the jungles of Peru over three centuries ago. OK….that’s total bullshit. I have no idea where egg nog originated. Nor does anyone else on the sample team. We have sent that question to Research and Development to answer. Those are the most basic of egg nog combinations, though.

So let’s sample a few other concoctions and see how they fare.

Here’s a recipe to serve several people:

Very Merry Egg Nog

This is a great “adult” version of the popular holiday beverage. It does not taste potent, but really packs a punch if you drink enough of ‘em!
 
12 oz.      Bacardi dark rum
4 oz.        Southern Comfort peach liqueur
4 oz.        creme de cacao
1 cup             berry sugar
1 quart                milk
1 quart            ice cream
12                   egg whites
12                     egg yolks
1/8 tsp               nutmeg 

Combine the ice cream, milk, sugar, egg yolks, and alcohol together in bowl and beat with electric beaters (you can also use a blender and do it in increments). Fold in the egg whites. Chill and serve with a sprinkle of nutmeg. Enjoy.

This recipe tasted wonderful. One of the women on the sample team is quite familiar with this recipe as she prepares it for her relatives every Christmas. The alcohol within is very subtle and hard to detect. The blend is very creamy and distictly different in taste (on the positive side) from the cartons you buy at Jewel or Wal-Mart. This is a fine holiday egg nog.

Here’s another recipe we researched:

Egg Nog – Country Style

1 cup           Applejack brandy
2 cups               sugar
1 pint              whole milk
1 pint            heavy cream
6                         eggs 

Mix the eggs and sugar together until they are well blended. SLOWLY add the brandy. (If added too fast, the eggs will break) Add in the whole milk. Add 1/2 of the heavy cream.

In a seperate bowl, whip the other 1/2 of the heavy cream until stiff (soft peak stage will work as well). Fold whipped cream into mixture.
Chill and enjoy!

 This too was enjoyed tremendously by everyone on the taste team. As with most foods/drink, homemade recipes just seem to taste better than the brand-name crap we all buy at the store. The difference is totally worth the effort….especially once or twice a year. The creaminess that the milk, cream, and eggs combine to create–plus the apple brandy resulted in a unique taste that I’ve never gotten out of a cardboard carton.

So give one of these recipes a try or just toss down a couple of Rum n’ Egg Nogs after you get home from work in one of those sloppy grid-lock snowstorms. Just take advantage of the one month per year where it’s OK to gorge on egg nog and other holiday treats……….

Like hot chocolate and Bailey’s. But that’s for another day.

Cheers !!