Holiday Eggnog
A custard base provides well-rounded, creamy flavor, and a technique that combines the milk and eggs in several stages yields an ultrasmooth texture.
Gather Your Ingredients
Key Equipment
Before You Begin
To prevent curdling, do not heat custard beyond 165 degrees. If it does begin to curdle, remove from heat immediately and pour into a bowl set over a larger bowl of ice water to stop the cooking, and proceed with recipe. You can omit the brandy to make a non-alcoholic eggnog, but you should also decrease the cream to 1/4 cup in order to keep the right consistency. For the same reason, increase the cream to 3/4 cup if you choose to add another 1/2-cup alcohol for a high-test nog.
Instructions
1.
Whisk, eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in medium bowl until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds; set aside. Bring milk and salt to simmer in large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
2.
When milk mixture comes to simmer, remove from heat and, whisking constantly, slowly pour into yolk mixture to temper. Return milk-yolk mixture to saucepan. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 160 to 165 degrees, 2 to 5 minutes.
3.
Immediately pour custard through fine-mesh strainer into large bowl; stir in liquor, vanilla and grated nutmeg. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, at least three hours and up to three days.
4.
Just before serving, using stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip heavy cream on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until soft peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. Whisk whipped cream into chilled eggnog. Serve, garnished with extra nutmeg.
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