Got Milk….Erhmmm… Eggnog?

You know how everyone waits for the Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday season? How people sing cheerful songs all day long and are all happy and everyone gives everybody else big hugs and makes cookies and candy and goodies to give to charities and begin to lead lives of voluntary poverty so that they can help others? Then, to make it even better, they all give home made gifts that are just oozing with love and seasonal chipperness?

Yeah… me neither. But it sounds really good doesn’t it?

That’s why I don’t wait for any of those things. The cynic in me won’t let me. I HOPE for it, I try to live it (except for that home made gift thing. I suck at crafts. You’d be better off getting a “Turkey Hand” from my 3 year old.) but I don’t expect it.

What I do expect however is Eggnog. Yep; eggnog. I cringe when I see stores setting up Christmas decorations/supplies/foods the day after Halloween ( or before in many cases) but I am that person standing in front of the dairy case leaving behind copious amounts of drool when I see them stocking up the refrigerated eggnog. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know; I could make home made eggnog and it would taste different better and would be fresher and not have preservatives. Yada yada yada. I LIKE preservatives. They are why I am 47 and have the skin of a 10 year old in old pictures of me taken when I was 5. I LIKE that fake overly thick texture that clogs up your arteries  throat and leaves you needing a drink of water. It’s yummy darn it! Yummy I say! Go… right now. Drink a gallon or six of eggnog and tell me that you don’t feel all bloated Christmasy and happy.

Seriously. I love the stuff. Wait all year for it. Well, that and Culvers Pumpkin Pie Shakes.

I also like to use it in baking. It is great in cookies and fudge and pot roasts* and cakes and muffins and sushi*. It gives everything a great flavor and starts them doing all that chipper singing and s***.

I was going to make eggnog muffins today and I still may do that in the near future. Any excuse to get my eggnog fix. But as I was pulling out ingredients I decided that I wanted to do something different. Yeah, I know. Me. Something different. Whoda thunk it? I also wanted to make something that was easy and quick so that it was a treat you could make on the fly and add to goody trays without having to put a lot of time into it. So the following cupcakes are what I came up with. Yes, they use boxed cake mix. Shoot me. I said when I made this blog that I was NOT the type to turn up my nose at convenience products. IF they are good. And the majority of cake mixes these days are pretty freaking good.

So give these a try. They are amazingly simple. They are also moist and tender with the flavor of spice and eggnog and the frosting puts them over the eggnoggy (yes, that is now a word. I said so.) top. Then put a straw in the bottle of eggnog and slurp away. I won’t judge. Laugh maybe, but not judge.

Eggnog Spice Cupcakes With Eggnog Buttercream

  • 1 box Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix (use a white or yellow cake and increase the spices by half if you want a cake with more eggnog flavor and less spice cake flavor.)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon rum extract
  • 1 1/3 cups refrigerated eggnog
  • 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • Buttercream frosting-
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 6 tablespoons eggnog (may take more or less; add slowly)
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 21 cupcake tins with liners or grease well.
  2. Beat all the cupcake ingredients in a large bowl for five minutes until well blended and creamy. Stick a finger in there and taste it, then worry about Salmonella.
  3. Bake at 350 until cupcakes are cooked through, about20 minutes. Tops should be browned and spring back when lightly touched.
  4. Cool in pan for a minute or two then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.
  5. While they cool, make frosting.
  6. Beat all frosting ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed, creamy and the grittiness of the powdered sugar is gone. This will take about 8 minutes or so. Add the powdered sugar slowly. If too thin, add a bit more sugar. If too thick, add more egggnog.
  7. Frost. Eat. Moan in eggnoggy ecstasy.

*You don’t really think I use it in pot roast and sushi do you? Geez, I draw the line SOMEWHERE! Nobody in their right mind would use it in sushi…… just in the sushi dipping sauce 😛

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36 thoughts on “Got Milk….Erhmmm… Eggnog?

  1. Wow….you think just like me…scary! This post made me laugh and the recipe looks fantastically good. Even though I have more baking to do in the next two week than I care to think about. I WANT to make these……for now I am going to pour myself a healthy cup of eggnogg (yes, I bought it the first week it was out) with a lil whisky 😉 *BUZZ*

    • Carolyn, it was kinda fun… I got to eat my eggnog as well as drink it buahahahaaaa

      Colleen, if you are an eggnog junkie too, you’d love these. They have a nice eggnog flavor but they aren’t overpowering.

  2. You absolutely slay me!!!! HAHAHAHA I am a sucker for preservative-laden egg nog too! You may suck at crafts, but you excel at baking (and blogging)! Keep on posting so I can keeping on smiling!

  3. Russ, you’d need eggnog if I made a roast python 😛

    Thanks Eliot! 😛 And thanks for the compliment on the blog. Now go drink some eggnog! Lots of eggnog!

  4. These are stunning! Janet – this was hilarious! I laughed OUT LOUD a half dozen times with this one….never a dull moment with you, girlfriend! As always, your recipes are spot on for the season and beautiful…and delicious!

    My nephew is like you – he hovers around the dairy case and drinks his weight in eggnog every year! Looking at him you wouldn’t know it, he’s built like a Greek God!

    • Thanks Stephanie! Let me know what you tihnk if you make them. I thought they were pretty yummy though I think I would make them with yellow cake next time so as to not overpower the eggnog flavor as much.

      Thanks so much Cucina!

  5. We eat warm, cold, saturated with rum. Oooh, then everything starts to taste even better! Even made our own eggnog complete with the raw egg. So you have a kindred soul. Eggnogg in buttercream. Bliss.

    • Hey Cathy! Thanks! If you make them, if you want a heavier eggnog flavor, try them with a yellow cake maybe. I think that is what I’m going to do next time. The spice cake was awesome but the flavor kind of overpowered the eggnog flavor.

      Hi Mike! Thanks!

  6. Janet….these are beautiful! Honestly….I look forward to the holidays simply for the tradition of food I don’t make for myself any other time of year….and for foods that you can only get at this time…like eggnog! I LOVE it! Oddly…I’ve yet to bake with it. Can’t wait to give these a try! ; )

  7. Thanks Liz! We still have some… come and get it! 😀

    Thank you Anne! And I completely agree… the foods this time of year, the ones we don’t usually have, are so worth waiting for!

  8. I am thinking I need to buy some eggnog now. These cupcakes are beautiful! I love the pearls on the frosting, they are so lovely. More importantly though the cupcakes sound like they would be incredibly delicious!

  9. Janet, Loved the witty editorial regarding the start-up of things full of holiday cheer… The use of egg nogg as a base for baking is a grand idea – especially when it’s presented beautifully as depicted here. Congratulations on the top spot in the Top 9! May you & yours have a splendid holiday!

  10. I made homemade eggnog once – I went a little heavy on the booze lol Not that that’s a bad thing, but you’re right – the convenience of the stuff in the dairy cooler is just so easy, it’s hard to resist. I love it in pancakes! But these cupcakes are gonna have to go on the to-do list too =)

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