How To Make Homemade Eggnog Ice Cream

Eggnog is my favorite time of year! Now that I can make my own homemade eggnog I can enjoy it all year round, even as ice cream! Ice cream is our family favorite dessert all year round. Eggnog ice cream is a great addition to the holiday season. It goes great with pumpkin, apple or pecan pie! This ice cream recipe is also great for celebrating Christmas in July!

Ingredients for Eggnog Ice Cream

You can either buy store bought eggnog or make your own. Here I will show you how to make your own. If your using store bought you can skip all this and simple add it to your ice cream maker.

Eggs Yokes

Egg Yokes add flavor as well as some of the creamy thickness. As you heat up your milk and eggs the yokes will cook slowly while mixing in with the milk, cream and sugar. In the end they will be cooked and if done correctly not clumpy.

Milk and Cream

The more cream you use the thicker and richer your eggnog will be. The more cream and fat in your ice cream the smoother and easier to scoop as the fat doesn’t freeze all the way. This gives your ice cream a creamier texture avoiding icy hard ice cream. You substitute with all milk or half and half and it will still turn out but texture will be best when you add the cream.

Sugar

Sugar is going to sweeten up our ice cream. If you want to substitute for a more healthier choice you could try monk fruit sweetener at a 1:1 ratio. Or honey or maple syrup at a 1:3/4 ratio.

Spices

Nutmeg is the star of the show with eggnog. Its warm, sweet, nutty flavor taste like Christmas. You can use ground nutmeg or whole cloves. I prefer using the whole cloves. Just grate them with a fine grater and enjoy freshly grated nutmeg.

The other spice we will be adding is cinnamon. Cinnamon and nutmeg complement each other very well as the are both warm and very reminiscence of the holiday season.

Vanilla Extract/Powder

Vanilla is another wonderfully warm flavor that bring out all the other flavors. I like to use vanilla powder for most of my baking and cooking. The flavor is just as wonderful and measures out the same as vanilla extract. If you’ve never given it a try let this holiday season be you chance!

Salt

Enhance the flavor with good salt like Redmond Real Salt. If you are looking for a unrefined natural salt with multiple minerals and electrolytes harvested in the United States of America, then look no further. Redmond Real Salt is full of flavor and nutrients and harvested out of the ancient seabed deep beneath Central Utah.

How To Make Eggnog

Separate eggs

Get two bowls, one for the yokes and one for the egg whites. Separating eggs is simple, crack the egg over the bowl set aside for the whites. Pour or catch the egg yoke in one half of the broken egg shell. Let the egg white fall into the bowl. Pour the egg yoke into the other half of the broken egg shell to get rid of the rest of the egg whites. Place you egg yoke in the other bowl.

Double Yoke with my first egg! Always very special!

Whisk Eggs and Sugar

To brake up the egg yoke and to keep it from clumping up while it cook, whisk it with the sugar until it turns a light or pale yellow. This will make for a very nice smooth eggnog.

Add The Rest Of The Ingredients

In a pot add the milk, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla powder and the egg and sugar mixture and whisk together.

Heat on The Stove

Turn on medium – medium high heat and stir. Don’t whisk anymore just stir it all together and keep an eye on it. You don’t want the eggnog to boil but you do want it to steam and maybe bubble a little but don’t let the milk burn. Stir for about 10-15 minutes until it starts to thicken as the egg cooks.

Let cool and Refrigerate

Turn off the heat and let the eggnog cool down. Once room temperature poor in a mason jar or bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

How To Make Eggnog Ice Cream

Pour Into An Ice Cream Maker and Churn For 20 Minutes

If you are using a KitchenAid Ice Cream bowl and attachment, turn the mixer on stir. Do not go any faster. You want to churn your ice cream slowly. If you are using an old fashioned ice cream maker or an electric ice cream maker follow the directions that came with your machine. Sadly I am not versed with every brand.

Freeze For 20 Minutes

The longer you churn the warmer your bowl is going to get. So I put it back in the freezer for 20 – 30 minutes to help keep everything cold. Leave the blade/mixer in the bowl.

Churn Again For Another 20 Minutes

When I bring it back out of the freezer I first break it up a little with a spoon. I don’t want it to be so hard that the mixer doesn’t work. It will seem at this point that it’s getting softer at first and not as frozen but then the ice cream will seem to increase and in my case, overflow a little bit. This is good.

Freeze For Another 20 Minutes Before Serving

By this time it might be close to a soft serve texture and you can serve it if you like. I will give my kids a spoonful and then place back in the freezer for another 20 minutes (or longer) to solidify a bit more. After that scoop away!