Eggnog with an exclamation point—it’s that good. How can something that combines dairy, egg yolks, more dairy, spices, rum, and maple syrup not be worth an exclamation point?

I made this as a holiday gift for the neighbors. Historically, around this time of year one of our neighbors would deliver fresh-baked cookies to the whole street. Any knock on the door from early to mid-December would send me into an anticipatory-pre-sugar-rush excitement over the possibility of homebaked goods. But not lately. Their daughter went off to college a few years back and they’ve been slacking in the baking department ever since. Major bummer. So, until their daughterreprioritizes and quits school to come home and bakegraduates I figured I’d pick up the mantle and make the sugar rounds. However, I’m Grinchier than they were and only deliver to the neighbors I like rather than the whole street (No eggnog for you, Mr. scowling drunkard on the cul-de-sac).

Eggnog (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

Note: I added the sweeteners and spices by feel and didn’t measure so these are estimates of what I used. Taste as you go.

• 4 cups milk
• 12 egg yolks*
• 1/4 cup real maple syrup
• 1 tbs stevia (use more syrup if you don’t have stevia)
• 4 cups cream
• 3 tsp vanilla extract**
• Rum to taste (optional)**
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1. Heat milk over lowest setting for 5 minutes in a large pot. Slowly bring to a boil then turn off and leave on the stove.
   
2. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks, syrup, stevia, and spices. Whisk in a little of the hot milk so the yolks don’t curdle when you whisk them with the rest of the hot milk. If your milk is too hot or you whisk too slowly and your yolks curdle, just run the whole thing through the blender and then strain it.
   
3. Stir in cream, vanilla, and rum. Let chill in the fridge for a few hours or overnight before consumption. Also, the spices tend to settle to the bottom, so stir/shake before pouring.
   
4. Enjoy either cold or hot! It’s pretty rich, so you can add milk to “water” it down to individual taste when serving.
   

*I used a hefty amount of my homemade vanilla rum extract in place of these two.

**I don’t go all gloom-n-doom over salmonella (I lick the beaters, wussup?) so I don’t really worry about getting the milk to X temperature. If that’s a concern of yours, I would check with another recipe for how they handled the yolks.