Eggnog! In Japan!

The last time I tried to make eggnog in Japan was many years ago and as I recall, it didn't go well. The only recipe I had found online then specified that you had to use the eggwhites and that meant you had to whip them into stiff peaks. The recipe failed to mention that the only real way to do that is an electric mixer, and I don't have one that does anything apart from sitting in a cupboard or jettisoning ingredients across the room.

The cinnamon was sent to me but cinnamon bought in Japan would also work. Everything else was bought here in Japan.

I was really excited to try again and find recipes that made it clear that the egg whites were optional. I don't like throwing them out, but I like beating them uselessly for hours even less.

Six egg yolks and 100 grams of sugar. Whisk them until they are one thing.

My kid and I stuck to this recipe I found online and even when I misread a few things, it seemed to go okay. This time we didn't alter the size and the yield at the end was about 800 milliliters, which isn't too much for a small family.

Yay! They are one! Now put the milk and cream in a pan with nutmeg and simmer it while stirring.

The hardest part for us was tempering the egg mixture with the hot milk mixture, which is something I never accomplished before, but with my kid conveying the hot milk and cream mixture while I furiously whisked, it worked out just fine.

No curdles! Yay!!!

Back on the heat until it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

In the end, the only container that would fit our needs was my coffee pot, so we poured the warm eggnog in.

Through a strainer, as instructed, to eliminate any incidental curdles.

Because the pot is glass and I didn't want it to bust in the cold fridge, I let the beverage get closer to room temperature before I put it in to chill. An hour later, we enjoyed some delicious nog.

Coffee? Tea? Nog!

It wasn't quite the same as the store bought stuff back home, but it was absolutely 100 times better than my last attempt.

Cinnamon for decoration-- probably works better if you know how to do this. If you mess it up, just stir it in!

While my kid was a little ambivalent about the look of the nog, she firmly agreed that it was delicious when she gave it a try.

Cheers, y'all!

If you're looking for more of an adult oriented rendition of the drink, the recipe I linked to includes information about when to add what kind of alcohol to the mix.

Personally, we're happy with it this way.

Enjoy!