10 Eggnog Recipes to Try This Christmas

Ah, eggnog. Nothing is quite as festive as this creamy, frothy classic made from milk, sugar, eggs, and a fair amount of booze if you’re looking to party. Here in America, we're all about our eggnog. You could say eggnog is as American as George Washington. In fact, you could say old George invented the drink himself.

Legend has it that on one particularly frigid Christmas Eve, Martha Washington was warming up some milk on the stove (George required warm milk every night before bed, you see). As Martha was stirring the milk for her hubby, a rogue hen perched on the conveniently open windowsill right above Martha’s stove. It was really cold, see, and the hen wanted to warm up by the heat of that bubbling milk. Well, Martha paid the chicken no mind until that cold little hen laid an egg and it fell right into George’s sleepytime drink. Unwilling to pour out the perfectly heated milk, Martha just kept on stirring and served it to the POTUS #1 anyways. Upon drinking the eggy milky concoction, George declared, “Needs liquor!” Mrs. Washington then promptly added a slosh of rum to the drink and eggnog was born. (Editor's Note: This is not true, no matter how much we want it to be true.)

…Okay, seriously though—Christmas Eve really is National Eggnog Day, and hey, George Washington really did love boozy eggnog. So if you’re tired of the same old prepackaged carton’d stuff your family usually drinks on December 24, you should try out one of these 10 variations this year instead. 


Foggy Dew


Named after a folksy lament about lost love, the Foggy Dew is an Irish take on eggnog which calls for 12-year-old Irish whiskey. Find the recipe at Food and Wine. 


Double Nut Eggnog

 
This eggnog variation is for peanut butter pie lovers. The "double nut" refers to the addition of yummy hazelnut liqueur. Find the recipe at Serious Eats.


Holiday Berry Nog


This drink is for the smoothie-obsessed, or for those of us with less refined palettes who need to disguise the flavor of the actual eggnog in order to drink it. Find the recipe at Real Housewives of Minnesota.


Maple Bourbon Eggnog


Never was there a pairing more sinful than bourbon and bacon. Find the recipe at Serious Eats.


Sticky Toffee Pudding Eggnog


Apparently traditional eggnog was so thick you could eat it with a spoon, so this stuff is too. If you're into that, you can find the recipe at Food and Wine.