Things to do today: buy Christmas gifts for kids’ coaches & teachers, buy packaging tape and boxes, call eye doctor, clean out email in box, make eggnog. Top priority: make eggnog.

When I read Brandon Eats‘ message to make your eggnog now or it is too late, I knew I had to put it on top of my ‘to-do list.’ It takes a minimum of three weeks for the eggnog flavors to marry and marinate in your fridge… or up to a year. So in theory, I could have started my Christmas Nog in July.

If my mom is reading this, she is smiling, because I DO have a tendency to begin planning for Christmas in July. But not this year. This year I really did leave the Christmas planning/buying/frenzy for December (other frenzies were a priority in their respective months; July was consumed with selling our house).

But back to December: I have always wanted to make eggnog from scratch. So when I was alerted to this recipe (from CHOW), I knew I needed to grab my just-emptied glass jug (the apple cider was delish), and start cracking… eggs that is.

And then wait.

I think I am a sucker for drinks that take time to mellow and perfect; my limoncella recipe takes 80 days. And it is divine. Last year I actually DID start making that in July, and even had a bottle or two left in December for Christmas gifts (a hazard of beginning Christmas limoncella in July is that come September when it is ripe and ready one feels the need to taste it, share it, re-taste it and otherwise fail to save it until Christmas). You can only wait so long. And that was too long.

But if you make this eggnog now, it will be perfect for New Year’s Eve. OR if you are not a waiter, crack it open a bit early, perhaps on the eve of Christmas (just save some for later, to taste when it is in its prime). If you do, know that I am too. A few big cubes of ice, a short glass and cheers: to Christmas and to You!

EGGNOG worth waiting for
12 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 quart whole milk (4 cups)
1 liter (about 4 cups) bourbon
1/2 cup Meyer’s dark rum
1/2 – 1 cup good Cognac or brandy
pinch kosher salt

To serve (optional—depends on your ability to wait even longer):
one whole nutmeg
10 egg whites
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Separate yolks and whites; discard whites or use for something else. Mix yolks and sugar until creamy; add remaining ingredients. Bottle right away and refrigerate. Stir or shake occasionally. Serve on rocks with freshly ground nutmeg. Optional: whip 10 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups cream to soft peaks and fold into eggnog. Serve garnished with fresh nutmeg.

Tis the season to cream butter and sugar, turn cocktails red and green, crunch candy canes for peppermint bark, and come up with foodie gifts like eggnog pound cake. I made 6 mini loaves with this recipe, then wrapped, ribboned and labeled them to spread around the eggnog love. You can freeze a few extra loaves and if you are [tip-of-the-hat] well organized, use extra pound cake for a seasonal trifle (use pound cake in place of ladyfingers or ‘cake layers’ used in most trifle recipes). I just tucked away a few loaves for a future Chocolate Rum Torte (coming soon to a blog near you).

I have had this recipe cut and pasted (the old way with a scissors and paper) into a 3 ring binder for years. I have no idea where it came from, but am grateful to have it. Someone else who was grateful? My 3 year old neighbor who, after last night’s dinner at our house, was given a token mini eggnog pound cake. I cannot contain a smile when I think of him licking—yes, licking—it all the way home (unabashed appreciation warms any cook’s heart; especially a 3 year old who estimates it is so good it should be licked). Here, the recipe for lick-able eggnog pound cake:

Eggnog Pound Cake
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup eggnog
1 cup coconut
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract

Cream butter, shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Well. Mix after each, just to blend: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup eggnog, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup eggnog, 1 cup flour. Add coconut and extracts, stir just to blend. Pour into greased, floured 10 inch bundt or 6 mini loaf pans (for gifts or freeze some for later) and bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours (I did 1 hour for the mini loaves).

Note: Feel free to omit the coconut flakes/shreds and extract; sub 1/2 tsp rum extract.