I tried this tonight and it's smashing! (Wheee!) I make it with Jameson's, o'course, but I suppose any whiskey will do...

This is another Barefoot Contessa recipe. I love that she not only writes cocktail recipes, but designs them to be made in a pitcher...

( Fresh Whiskey Sours )

So my post on Snowballs and Advocaat got me thinking about eggnog. Not the viscous stuff you get in the carton or in your latte (though I would never turn my nose up at a grande eggnog latte), but real, Southern eggnog. The kind made with, you know, actual eggs. The kind where it's okay to be made with actual (raw) eggs, because there's so much booze in it that no contaminant could possibly survive.

That's real eggnog. That's the Taste of Christmas (tm). And I was seriously jonesing for it.

So, I went scurrying through my old emails, and there it was. My savior came in the form of my dear friend and former colleague John Fall (and boy, do I have some great, non-eggnog related stories about him). He had sent me his mother's recipe last year, and for some strange reason, I hadn't made it. Seeing as how I happened to have extra cream and booze on hand (surprise, surprise), I decided to make that right.

Let me just say this right now:

Caroline Fall is a goddess. A GODDESS, I tell you! This stuff is INCREDIBLE. It's the real deal, and very straightforward to make. I cut the recipe in half, and it filled an empty French lemonade bottle (leftover from my Snowball experimentation - see how green I am?). One cup was enough to get me feeling pretty good...and probably packed on about 5 pounds from all the eggs and cream and half and half. But that's the beauty of a drink filled with rum and brandy...you don't care that it has 500 calories! Per half cup!

Yeah...that's the taste of Christmas. Thank you, Mrs. Fall.

(By the way, I'm sharing it with you just as John sent it to me, because I couldn't possibly top what he has to say...)

Caroline Fall's Eggnog

Speaking of booze, here’s my mother’s eggnog recipe. Perhaps you’ve encountered it in the South. I can’t recommend it enough…or, I can’t recommend enough of it. The eggs are raw, but the alcohol should kill just about anything…

12 eggs

24 tablespoons sugar

½ pint rum

1 pint brandy

1 pint whipping cream

1 pint half and half


Separate eggs
Beat yolks until lemon color
Gradually add 12 tablespoons of sugar while beating
Add liquor separately
Add half and half while beating
Fold in previously whipped cream
Fold in remaining 12 table spoons of sugar


Serve sprinkled with nutmeg. Invite others to share if you must!

PS: John also recommended that I halve the recipe (which I did) if it was just me because, the cream and booze would kill me before the raw eggs did! I recommend you do the same. It still makes a LOT of eggnog.

PPS: I think this tastes better when it has a little time in the fridge to chill and let the flavors meld. It seems to have less of a kick, so if you can stop yourself from slurping it up as soon as it's made, some fridge time might be good.

PPPS: I substituted Tuaca, an Italian brandy-based liqueur, for the brandy. It's, as an ex-boyfriend once said, 'Brandy that tastes good'. It's got undertones of vanilla and orange that actually worked really well in eggnog, so I'd recommend Tuaca for a different flavor.

So, now that NaNoWriMo's over, I should get back to posting recipes here. Unfortunately, I haven't been cooking too much lately, between Thanksgiving, NaNo and being under the weather. Still, I have a few recipes I've been working on and I'll post those over the next few days.

One I've been wanting to share has quickly become my favorite drink: the snowball. I will tell you right now, this is an old lady cocktail, one of those things that was probably super cool in the 60s. Now, as Nigella Lawson puts it, it's a drink "greatly to be disparaged". But you know, those old ladies in the 60s knew a few things that we could probably stand to learn, and I'm here to say that the snowball is one of those.

A snowball is basically a combination of advocaat and "lemonade" - which is British for Sprite. (Apparently, in England, lemonade is not the sugar syrup and lemon concoction it is here, but is a sparkling lemon or lemon-lime flavored soda - basically Sprite or 7-Up. Learn something new every day, dontcha?)

I had never heard of advocaat before I saw Nigella make one of these and honestly, it's pretty weird. It's a Dutch liqueur - almost like a Dutch eggnog, but it comes from a bottle, not a carton, and doesn't need refrigeration. It's definitely a liqueur, but isn't that strong, alcohol-wise. The weirdest thing (besides its color - a strange, buttery yellow) is the texture: very thick, and I don't know...globby - sort of like condensed cream of chicken soup out of the can. I know, I know...I'm not making this sound very appetizing. Just hang with me.

I would actually say it's a little too Dutch for my taste (as so many things are)...until you add Sprite to it. Then it turns into this light, fluffy concoction that tastes like an ice cream float for grownups. There's something very festive and wintry about a snowball, and I've been drinking them all season.

I found Advocaat at BevMo, and it can be ordered online. (By the way, I tried this with French sparkling lemonade - the kind you get in the fancy glass bottle - and it's good. I personally prefer Sprite, and it's easier to get.)

Snowball

1 part Advocaat
3 parts Sprite, 7-Up or Sparkling Lemonade
Crushed Ice

Mix together the advocaat and Sprite, then add the ice. Shake or stir. Enjoy. (If the Sprite's cold, I sometimes leave out the ice and just mix together in the glass.)

Guess what? Not only does food you make at home taste better, but so do cocktails.

For months, I've been buying these cocktail "mixes" and just putting vodka in them - cosmos, lemon drops, etc. Turns out, all it takes is an acrylic pitcher and a simple recipe, and I'm off to boozy happiness with something much tastier than too-brightly colored liquid out of a little glass jar.

Pomegranate Cosmos

Makes about 6 servings*; keep in a pitcher in the fridge

2 cups vodka
1 cup orange liqueur (recommended: Cointreau) All I had was Triple Sec, so I used that
1 cup pomegranate juice
Juice of 3 limes (about 1/2 cup)

Pour everything into a pitcher. Stir. Imbibe.

Note: I originally thought it was for four servings; you can imagine how I was talking after having two servings. Well, Pluto is a planet. So, there.