Best Egg Nog Recipe in the World!

When my mom died and my sister and I divvied up her belongings that my father did not need, I ended up with the coveted “The New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.” It was profoundly sentimental to me because it was the duct-taped book that my parents had used to prepare our world famous Holiday Egg Nog. While the fabulous Walker Family Christmas Eve Party dated back to the early 1970s, the addition of the Holiday Egg Nog did not come to be part of the tradition until I was in high school or college. I’m going to take full credit for adding it to our lineup of Midnight Rum Balls and the Green family’s peanut butter chocolate thingies. I simply said what a great idea it would be to make our own egg nog than buy that nonalcoholic stuff they sell with the milk at the grocery store. And thus the tradition began.

This old Fannie Farmer cookbook was actually my father’s mother’s book. She died, ironically, on Christmas Day when I was a wee kid, but judging from the photos I’ve seen of her, I’m sure she would have enjoyed having a cup or two of the Walker family nog.

There is a science to this egg nog recipe. For starters, it uses raw eggs. I remember when I was a kid and it was OK to lick the cake batter out of the bowl without someone freaking out about salmonella poisoning. I’m not sure what happened to eggs between now and then. But my father, the immunologist, says that the alcohol in our egg nog is enough to kill just about anything in its path. Honestly, this recipe uses enough booze that even my family would warn guests not to smoke near it.

The other odd thing is that this recipe is to be made a week before it is consumed and “store in cool cellar.” We live in Alabama. Our cellar holds wine and is climate controlled, otherwise it would be about 75 degrees this time of year. But, the refrigerator is a fair substitute. And we make room.

I have had two different excellent chefs taste the Walker Family Egg Nog and they both agreed with anyone else who has ever been brave enough to try it. It is excellent. And for those skittish few out there – not a single person has come down with salmonella or any other illness from consuming the raw eggs in this nog. (Think Rocky Balboa in Rocky, the first one.) As for alcohol poisoning, well, I can’t vouch for that.

I’m going to share this recipe, and you’ll thank me if you try it. (I’m not going to type it in because that’s probably a copyright issue. So I’ll just shoot the page.) But if you really want to thank me, then you can visit BlissMom.com after Dec. 1, because at the end of the month I’ll be moving on from the glorious BlissTree. Bittersweet. Meantime, let’s toast to this, the best egg nog recipe you will every try.

recipe

Photos, JWJourney

Comments

By cynthia

Could you please e-mail me the recipe from the Fanny Farmer’s cookbook; the holiday and/or regular one will be fine. Thank you.

By edna everson

Please email me your Fannie Farmer eggnog recipe I can not find my sisters Fannie farmer cookbook where it was first published.
Thank you ever so much and Merry Christmas.

By Honey

You are an awesome writer! I thoroughly enjoyed reading Blissmom! I too would like the egg nog recipe. We won’t be able to give gifts again, this year in order to keep our utilities on, but at least I can make one of my darling’s all time favorite drinks of the holidays, egg nog. I won’t be adding the alcohol, but I’m sure it will still be a wonderful treat for him. Blessings to you and your family.

Honey

By Jenny

Please send the recipe or post it! PLZ

By Mary

My friend gave me this recipe about 25 years ago, from her Fanny Farmer book. Now I cannot find it. Can you send it to my email, ASAP!! Craving it!

By keith

Hi love the sound of your eggnog recipe,could you send it to me as this is my first one to try.I’m having all the family over for xmas dinner.Regards,Keith from Ireland

By Heather

I would love to see this recipe as it sounds wonderful. Can you please send to my email?

Thanks very much!

By Roe Digi

I cannot open the recipe…please send it to my email…..

Thank You

By Martha Kight

This really brings a happy lump to my throat :)
I have my momma’s Fannie Farmer – covers and half the index detached, printed in 1937 :) I now collect editions of it – it;’s really fun to see the changes over time :)

And this Eggnog recipe makes converts out of Eggnog haters!
“Cool cellar” was written before everyone had refrigerators :) Fridge is perfect.
Yes – just buy good fresh eggs and you shoudl be fine. Never had a Salmonella incident myself, either.

Thanks for posting!
-Martha
Sacramento, CA

By grandpa walker

emailed yo. anni and i loved reading this. moving on?? loveya, pa

By LB

Love it!

I found a copy of an old, beat up Southern Living casseroles cookbook on ebay. This was the one my mom and aunt used for so many holiday casseroles. It was so weird to follow the recipe….and then there was my mom or my aunt’s famous dishes, here with me in California. Very neat and weird.

And I won’t even get (too much) into the idea of women and recipes and the swapping of them over the years,almost like a secret club or something. Going through my grandmother’s stuff after she died, there were handwritten recipes shoved everywhere — apparently this one cake came from Mrs. White from church, this bread from a neighbor down the street. It’s really interesting when you think about it. Somehow my going to epicurious.com to find out how to make something just isn’t quite the same.