Gemma 
Welcome to Day 16 of Blogmas At Home 2024! 🎄🎅🏻✨
Eggnog is traditional festive drink in many countries across the world, though it varies a little between regions and families. At its heart, it is a lightly spiced custard, often spiked with some sort of alcohol (rum, brandy and bourbon are popular choices), that can be served either hot or, more commonly, cold. It’s not a super common drink here in the UK, but I’ve always been interested in it (drinkable custard? Yes please!).
The process for making eggnog is incredibly similar to the process for making ice cream (you just don’t freeze/churn eggnog!) Naturally, then, I decided to make an Eggnog Ice Cream. This ice cream is infused with vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg, just like a classic eggnog. It also contains a dash of alcohol, but that can be omitted, if you prefer.
This ice cream is delicious on its own, but it’s also great served alongside all manner of warm puddings this time of year: sticky toffee, apple pie— whatever you fancy! It is spiced (and spiked), but none of the flavours are overwhelming— it’s still a neutral enough ice cream flavour that it can be served as an accompaniment.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
To make this eggnog ice cream, you will need:
- Double cream
Like all of my ice cream recipes, the base starts with a 50:50 combo of double cream and milk, which gives the perfect smooth and creamy texture.
- Milk
Ideally, you should use whole milk for this recipe. However, if you’re like me and never seem to have whole milk in the house, skimmed/semi-skimmed milk also work.
- Caster sugar
I use golden caster sugar, because I think it has more depth of flavour, but white caster sugar will also work. You will need to separate the sugar into two equal portions (60g each). One portion will be heated with the infused milk/cream, while the other will be whisked together with the egg yolks.
- Vanilla pod
The first of the 3 spices in this recipe, the vanilla pod gives a sweet, classic custard flavour to the ice cream.
- Cinnamon stick
The second flavouring in the recipe, cinnamon brings a festive spiciness to the ice cream. I’ve opted to infuse the dairy products with a whole cinnamon stick, rather than use ready-ground cinnamon, to keep the ice cream super smooth and silky, and prevent it from turning beige.
- Whole nutmeg
The final spice: freshly grated nutmeg has much more flavour than ready-ground nutmeg, so that’s what I’m using here. Make sure you use a fine grater for this, so the nutmeg is evenly distributed throughout the ice cream and doesn’t affect the texture too much.
- Egg yolks
You don’t need the whites for this recipe, so you can either use them straightaway for another bake (such as some macarons or meringues!), or freeze them for another time.
- Bourbon
This is my alcohol of choice for this eggnog ice cream, but you can use rum, brandy, or any other liqueur that you think would be tasty! The alcohol can also be omitted completely, if you would prefer to make a non-alcoholic ice cream.
How to Make Eggnog Ice Cream
It doesn’t take much to turn a regular old ice cream into an eggnog ice cream— you just add a bit of spice (and booze, if that’s your vibe).
The day before you plan to churn your ice cream, put the bowl of your ice cream maker into the freezer. The bowl needs to be really cold before you churn the custard, so you do (unfortunately) need to plan ahead!
Infusing the Milk & Cream
The first step is to infuse the milk and cream with the spices. Doing this, rather than just adding ground spices, helps to preserve the smooth, silky texture and neutral colour of the ice cream. It also means the flavours are stronger, so you get the best out of all of your ingredients!
Use a small, sharp knife to split the vanilla bean in half. Scrape out the seeds and add them to a medium-sized saucepan, along with the milk, cream, caster sugar, cinnamon stick and halved vanilla bean.
Grate in some nutmeg— I used about 1/8 tsp of nutmeg here, but you can adjust this to suit your tastes.
Place the saucepan over a low heat and, stirring every now and then to prevent the mixture from catching, bring it to just below the boil. When it’s ready, you’ll see little bubbles forming around the edge of the pan and there will be some steam rising from the mixture.
Remove the pan from the heat and cover with a lid. Set aside and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove and discard the cinnamon stick and vanilla bean. Now, you can get on with making the custard!
Making the Ice Cream Base
Take about 125ml of the milk mixture out of the saucepan and set aside. Gently reheat the rest of the mixture over low heat until it comes back to just below the boil.
While this is happening, put the egg yolks into a large bowl with the rest of the sugar.
Using an electric whisk, beat the mixture until it is thick, pale and fluffy. This is called the ‘ribbon stage’, because the mixture should fall off the beaters in ribbons. To see if the ‘ribbon stage’ has been reached, draw a figure of eight just above the surface of the mixture with the beaters. If you can complete the figure before the ribbon settles back into the rest of the mixture, it’s ready!
Add the reserved 125ml of the cool milk mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to incorporate. This will slacken the egg mixture and make it easier to incorporate the hot milk mixture without cooking the eggs.
Once the milk mixture has come back up to just below a boil, you can start to add it to the eggs. While stirring the egg mixture,, pour in the hot milk mixture in a slow, steady stream, until it has all been added and everything is incorporated. It’s important to do this slowly, stirring all the time, so you do not cook the eggs and end up with lumps!
Pour the whole lot through a heatproof, fine mesh sieve (just in case there are any little pieces of cooked egg!) back into the saucepan and place it over a medium-low heat. If you use too high a heat, the custard might curdle, so be careful.
Cook the custard, stirring frequently with a heatproof spatula, until it has thickened slightly. When it’s ready, it should coat the back of a spoon— this will take about 8-10 minutes. Do not let the custard boil, or it will curdle. If you see any bubbles rising to the surface in the centre of the pan, remove the custard from the heat immediately (it should be thick enough at that point).
Pour the thickened custard into a heatproof jug and cover with clingfilm, making sure to press the clingfilm directly onto the surface of the custard, to prevent it from forming a skin. Allow the custard to cool slightly at room temperature before putting it into the fridge to chill for at least 3-4 hours, or preferably overnight.
Once the ice cream base is completely cold, before you churn the mixture, add the bourbon/other alcohol (if using) and stir well to incorporate. Adding the alcohol once the custard is cold will preserve the flavour (and kick!).
Churning the Ice Cream
I use the KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment to churn my ice creams, but any ice cream maker will do. This is not a no-churn recipe, unfortunately, so you will need some sort of ice cream maker!
Start by setting up the ice cream maker, as per your machine’s instructions. For the KitchenAid version, this just involves locking in the frozen bowl and attaching the churning paddles.
With the machine running, pour in the cold custard. It’s important to do this while the machine is running, so that the custard doesn’t immediately harden onto the sides of the machine, which will make it impossible to churn (and might break your machine)(I speak from experience).
Churn the ice cream for 10-30 minutes (or following your machine’s instructions), until it is thick and creamy.
Transfer the churned ice cream to a freezer-safe container, cover with a lid, then freezer for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight) before enjoying.
The ice cream will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months, so you can enjoy it throughout the entire festive season!
Recipe
Eggnog Ice Cream
Equipment
- 1 ice cream maker (I use the KitchenAid attachment).
Ingredients
- 300 ml double cream
- 300 ml milk
- 120 g caster sugar, split into 2x60g portions (I use golden caster sugar).
- 1 vanilla pod
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/8 tsp finely grated fresh nutmeg
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp Bourbon (or your liqueur of choice, optional)(see Note 1).
Instructions
- The day before you plan to churn the ice cream, place the bowl of your ice cream maker into the freezer.
Infuse the milk/cream:
- Place the cream, milk and half of the sugar into a medium-sized saucepan. Use a small, sharp knife to split the vanilla bean in half and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds, vanilla bean halves, cinnamon sticks and grated nutmeg to the saucepan, then place over low heat.
- Stir every now and then while the sugar melts and the milk mixture heats up. Allow the mixture to come to just below the boil, then remove from the heat, cover with a lid and set aside to infuse for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove and discard the two vanilla bean halves and the cinnamon stick.
Make the custard base:
- Remove 125ml of the infused milk mixture and set aside. Place the rest of the milk mixture back over the heat and stir every now and then while it comes back up to just below the boil.
- While this is happening, use an electric whisk to beat the egg yolks and the remaining sugar together, until the mixture is pale, thick and fluffy (the 'ribbon stage').
- Add the reserved 125ml of the milk mixture and whisk again to incorporate. This will slacken the eggs and make it easier to mix in the hot milk mixture.
- When the milk mixture has come up to temperature, add the milk to the eggs in a slow, steady stream, stirring all the time, until it has all been incorporated.
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan through a heatproof, fine mesh sieve (to ensure the custard is smooth).
- Place the saucepan over a medium-low heat and stir frequently with a heatproof spatula as the custard thickens. Once thick (it should coat the back of a spoon, this will take about 8-10 minutes), remove from the heat.
- Pour the thickened custard into a heatproof jug and cover the surface directly with cling film, to prevent it from forming a skin. Allow to cool slightly at room temperature, then place into the fridge to chill for at least 3-4 hours (preferably overnight).
- Once the custard base is completely cold, add the bourbon/other alcohol (if using) and stir through well.
Churn the ice cream:
- Once the custard is cold and the alcohol (if using) has been added, set up your ice cream maker, as per your machine's instructions.
- With the machine running, pour the custard into the machine and allow to churn for 10-30 minutes, until thick and creamy.
- Transfer the churned ice cream to a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight) before serving. The ice cream will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Rum and brandy are both often found in eggnog, so would make a good substitute. The amount of alcohol listed in the recipe gives a subtle, alcoholic flavour to the ice cream. If you want a stronger hit of flavour, increase the amount to 2 tbsp.
