SmartRemarks

Here’s a little something to liven up the party tonight, or any other festive occasion! Once you’ve tried real eggnog, you’ll never touch the godawful prepackaged supermarket stuff again. It takes a little time, but it’s worth it. As with my earlier pie recipe, I hybridized this from a wide assortment of published recipes, so I feel no compunctions about sharing it as my own…

Homemade Eggnog

Ingredients:

6 eggs
3/4 cup superfine or confectioner’s sugar
1 cup rum (light or dark)
5 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream

Preparation:

First, put two or three metal bowls and the beaters from your hand blender in the freezer to chill.

Make the eggnog “base.” Separate the eggs. Put the egg yolks in one of the bowls, and beat at medium speed. Gradually add one-half of the sugar. Continue beating until the mixture is pale and thick; this will take 7-10 minutes. Gradually add the rum, and continue beating until frothy. Put it in the refrigerator to chill.

Whip the egg whites. Put them in another chilled bowl, and beat (with clean beaters) at high speed until they form soft peaks. Put this in the refrigerator as well, and take out the yolk mixture.

Add the milk. Pour it gradually into the yolk mixture, beating with a hand whisk as you go. (If you use the power mixer at this point, it’ll spatter everywhere.) Add the vanilla and nutmeg at this point as well. If you like more “punch” in your eggnog, feel free to substitute up to two cups of additional rum (or brandy or bourbon) for an equal amount of milk.

Add the whites. Remove the beaten egg whites from the refrigerator and fold them into the milk/egg mixture, using a whisk or soft spatula. Don’t worry about being too gentle; they should be fully combined.

Whip the cream. In another chilled bowl, whip the cream at medium speed, adding the remaining sugar gradually as you go. Stop when it’s just starting to thicken:  you’re not making dessert topping here, so it needs to be drinkable.

Add the cream. Fold the whipped cream into the eggnog mixture, gently but completely. Transfer to a large pitcher or punch bowl, and cover.

Chill. Return the finished eggnog to the refrigerator for at least an hour, or as long as overnight. Serve in small coffee cups or festive mugs, with additional sprinkles of nutmeg for garnish. The finished product should total about 96 ounces (more or less, depending on how much you whipped things), so it’ll provide about 12 servings.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I was fortunate enough yesterday to attend a Thanksgiving gathering hosted by a friend who is a fairly talented and ambitious amateur chef, and he outdid himself this year. A table of ten was treated to a succulent brined, grilled turkey with a rosemary-citrus rub, roasted cilantro-lime sweet potatoes, cream-braised Brussels sprouts, southern-style cornbread stuffing, white cheddar mashed potatoes, sour cream & chive biscuits, and a half-dozen other delicious dishes.

I’m not a complete slouch in the kitchen myself, however, and I always enjoy contributing something to a holiday meal even if I’m not an active participant in the preparations. My offering yesterday was a recipe I cobbled together and customized from multiple sources, and as the results were very well received, I thought I’d venture away from my usual topics and share it here:

Pumpkin Praline Cream Cheese Pie

Ingredients: (this recipe makes two regular 9″ pies, or one deep-dish 10″ pie)

Pastry (two crusts)

2-1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp shortening, chilled
6 Tbsp butter (unsalted), chilled
3/8 cup ice water
1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Cheesecake base

12 oz (1-1/2 blocks) Neufchatel cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, PLUS 1 egg white or 2 Tbsp egg substitute
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange juice

Praline streusel

3/4 cup chopped pecans and/or walnuts
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp butter (unsalted), softened
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Pumpkin filling

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (NOT pie filling)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of allspice
3 eggs
1 (12 oz) can low-fat evaporated milk

Topping (for two pies)

2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla
2 packets Whip-It whipped cream stabilizer

Preparation:

That’s a long-ish list of ingredients, but it’s actually a fairly easy pie.

First, preheat the oven to 350°.

Prepare the pastry. (You can use supermarket pie shells, but the food gods will frown upon you if you do.) This isn’t a low-fat pastry recipe by any means, but it does use only about 2/3 the fat of some traditional recipes. It uses both shortening and butter, creating a balanced pastry that’s flavorful but not too crisp, both tender and flaky.

Combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening and butter, either by hand with a pastry blender or with a few pulses of a food processor. Add the vinegar to the ice water. Using a fork (or food processor), mix in one Tbsp of water at a time until the pastry is firm and moist, neither crumbly nor wet. Divide into two balls, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (to allow the gluten to relax), then remove and let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

While the pastry dough is chilling, prepare the cheesecake base. Using an electric mixer at low-medium speed, beat the cream cheese with the sugar until combined. Add the egg(s), vanilla, and OJ, and beat until smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out each ball of pastry on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to two 9″ pie plates (or one 10″ deep-dish pie plate). Trim and crimp the edges. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Make the praline streusel. Combine nuts, brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and vanilla in a bowl.

With a rubber spatula, spread 1/2 of the cheesecake base into each pie shell (or, for this and each following step, all of it into the deep-dish shell). Sprinkle 1/2 of streusel over the base of each pie.

Wrap crust edges in aluminum foil (or use crust protectors), and place both pies in oven for ten minutes.

While base is baking, prepare pumpkin filling. Combine the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin and the eggs, then the dry ingredients, then the evaporated milk. Stir gently until smooth and well combined.

Remove pies from oven, and increase heat to 425°. Remove foil/crust protectors. Pour 1/2 of pumpkin filling evenly over each base (gently, so as not to displace the base layer). Return to oven for 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350° again. Bake for at least an additional 40 minutes (longer for deep-dish), until edges are lightly browned and puffy and center jiggles smoothly (or, to be certain, a sharp knife inserted near center comes out clean). Remove pies and cool on wire racks for 2 hours, until completely cool.

Prepare the topping. Chill metal bowl and beaters in freezer. Add whipping cream, and beat lightly with electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add sugar, vanilla, and stabilizer. Beat at high speed until stiff peaks form (about 2 minutes). Spread (or pipe) whipped cream artfully around the outer edge of each pie. If desired, sprinkle whipped cream with nutmeg and/or garnish center of pie with 4 pecan halves.

Chill until ready to serve. Enjoy!