Homemade egg nog is something that I have wanted to make for years. I think the first time I had some store-bought egg nog that I actually liked, it was from Oberweis in Aurora, Il – everything that comes from Oberweis is excellent, so this might not be a surprise. But since I’m doing this whole blog thing, I knew I had to try making it myself.

The first thing I learned is that there is a crap ton of booze in homemade eggnog, or at least in the recipes I found. I haven’t bought that many liquor bottles at one time ever before, I don’t think. I got home from the store with a bottle of brandy and Dave said “Brandy, eh? We should make beef stroganoff!” I love him. And the stroganoff was excellent, by the way.

The second thing I learned is that there is absolutely no substitute for homemade egg nog. It’s creamy, rich and has a luxurious consistency when mixed with egg whites and cream to serve. We’ve been drinking it at home in the evenings and we also served it at our holiday party this year. It’s been the perfect addition to our home this holiday season!

We aged this eggnog for a month after we made it, but you don’t have to do that. I also only made a half batch at a time, because this whole recipe prepared will be A LOT of egg nog, and once mixed, it is no longer good forever. And also, there is basically no way to make this particular recipe non-alcoholic – the safety of the raw eggs depends on the high alcohol content, so please do not attempt to adapt this particular recipe by lowering or leaving out the booze.

Here’s what you need to make a 1-gallon batch (make sure that you have a gallon-sized vessel on hand). Yes, this uses RAW EGGS, and so please use pasteurized eggs and be very careful. Raw eggs can make you sick if they are mishandled. The alcohol helps kill the bugs in this recipe – please see this article on Chow.com for more info (it’s also their egg nog recipe).

For the boozy part:

12 large eggs yolks
2 cups sugar
1 liter bourbon
1 quart whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Cognac or brandy
1/2 cup Myers dark rum
Pinch fine salt

In a very large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until they are light in color and well combined. Carefully add in the bourbon, milk, cream, brandy, rum and salt. Very carefully, stir to combine. Move the liquid to a gallon-sized container and seal tightly. Refrigerate until it’s time to serve – this is the part where we began aging ours. Chow.com recommends aging at least 3 weeks.

When you serve it, you will also need:

12 reserved egg whites
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
Freshly grated nutmeg

Whip egg whites on a high speed until they form stiff peaks, then move to your serving vessel. Next, whip the cream until medium peaks form. Fold the egg nog base together with the cream and egg whites, then serve with freshly grated nutmeg. This is still pretty strong, so you may wish to cut it with a little bit more milk if you want.