Christmas traditions…

By Lena on December 23rd, 2009
Posted in General | 3 Comments »

I have a lot of different memories connected with all our Christmas celebrations, which by the way is my favorite holiday.  Some of them are crazier than others – like the time Lydia and I got up at 1:oo and headed downstairs… and hung around the tree until morning and ate candy (yes, we do eat candy and we did sleep… some).  We don’t do that any more; we lost, in part, that childish excitement and anticipation of being the “first” downstairs and the “first” to examine every present minutely… and also now we’re the ones going to bed at 1:00 on Christmas eve, and we’ve both come to realize that sleep is not to be despised.

But in light of a recent conversation I had, I started thinking about our tradition of drinking eggnog during December.  For the uninitiated, eggnog is a foamy, whipped-up mixture of eggs, milk, whip-cream, sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg.  It can be made with or without cooking the eggs: the kind you buy in the stores and the kind I make is made by cooking them.

I remember that one of the signals that Christmas season was starting was that the stores would start carrying eggnog and Daddy would start bringing it home from the store to put in his coffee. We loved that stuff and nothing was better than being able to drink some of the foamy, rich, goodness – with the essential nutmeg sprinkled on the top.

Of course, as our family became more health conscious over the years, that tradition died. After all, that stuff is loaded with sugar! It probably has preservatives in it too… and artificial flavor might be in there also.  So, the tradition was out for a couple years but we missed our eggnog. The season just wasn’t the same without it!

So three or four years ago, we’d thought we’d try making it. The sugar content is still pretty high: you just can’t make good eggnog if it isn’t! – but that’s okay.  We only make it a couple times in the season but that’s fine too – we enjoy every drop and look forward again to next year when we can have it again.

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be making it for our Christmas morning breakfast and needless to say, we’re all looking forward to it!

Edit:

Recipe: Homemade Eggnog

Yield: 3 1/2 quarts

12 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 quarts milk, divided

2 tablespoons vanilla

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups whipping cream

Additional nutmeg, optional

In a heavy 4-qt saucepan, whisk together eggs, sugar and salt.  Gradually add 1 qt. of milk.  Cook and stir over low heat until a thermometer reads 160-170 degrees, about 30-35 minutes.  Pour into a large heatproof bowl; stir in vanilla, nutmeg, and remaining milk.  Place bowl in an ice-water bath, stirring frequently until mixture is cool.  If mixture separates, process in a blender until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.  When ready to serve, beat cream in a mixing bowl on high until soft peaks form; whisk gently into cooled milk mixture.  Serve in mugs with additional nutmeg, if desired.

Galena