Four Roses Eggnog & Weenie Wreath (2013 Version)

After two years of brewing up some Holiday Glogg for Christmas Eve, I decided to switch things up a bit and make eggnog from scratch. After looking through some of my cookbooks, I decided on this recipe, which was taped onto the eggnog pages in my copy of The Savoy Cocktail Book.

I have no idea how old the recipe is, but it was snipped from a magazine. And it is the exact recipe that is up on the Four Roses website including the “five pints of the grandest eggnog ever ladled into a cup” bit.

Four Roses most definitely exists, but they didn’t carry it at the East Liberty Wine & Spirits store. Oh, well. I just went with this:

I couldn’t give you a good reason as to why I chose the Heaven Hill. It was cheaper than some of the others, but not the bottom of the bottom shelf. I used the Bacardi 151 because it was in the house from when my mum and I made the flaming Liberaces.

Anyway, I followed the recipe and went all mad crazy with the hand mixer and whipped up the eggs and yolks. And folded them. And then folded in the milk and cream. More folding.

But all that folding made my nog totally fluffy and utterly grand!

Lookie-loo!

This is the closest thing to a finished picture I have. Because once the night got going, I put down my camera and never picked it up again.

But at least it’s from when I transferred the nog to the silver punch bowl. Just imagine it with nutmeg. And lots of lovely little silver cups surrounding the bowl.

It was delicious. And I imagine it would be quite dangerous if you didn’t know that there was an entire pint of bourbon in it. The only beef I have with it is that it was so fluffy and so grand that it was difficult to drink. Imagine the steamed milk on the top of a cappuccino. You know how you always end up with the fluffy stuff stuck to the sides of the cup after all the coffee has been drunk? That’s what happened with the nog. I wished I had a straw to scrape up all of the fluffy bits. Instead, I just used my fingers.

Because I am classy like that.

The nog was a hit. I was worried that we would be lousy with leftovers at the end of the night, but I was wrong. There was just enough for my family to have a little tipple in front of the tree before we all turned in for the night.

The other big hit of the night? WEENIE WREATH!

I realized that the last time I did the wreath, I didn’t actually tell you how I did it. Here is the recipe:

Weenie Wreath Recipe

Get 36 all-beef lil’ weenies from one of those bags of weenies.Roll out 1 tube of crescent dough and press down all of the perforations to make one solid sheet. Cut the dough into 36 squares. Roll the weenies in the dough. Form the rolls into a wreath shape with all of the pieces touching or nearly touching. A disposable pizza pan is the perfect size for this (see above image).

Brush ring with melted butter and sprinkle it with dried rosemary.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-ish minutes until golden brown.

Garnish with fresh herbs, etc.

I used basil and rosemary. And I made an epic wreath decoration:

Your eyes do not deceive you–that is indeed a poinsettia made out of sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and green olives. I totally went Martha Stewart on the Weenie Wreath this year.

I didn’t even plan that. I just was putzing around with the stuff in the fridge.

I almost didn’t even get to try my wreath–I put it on the table, went back into the kitchen to grab my drink, and it was completely eaten with the exception of 2 little pieces under my poinsettia. This was such a smashing success that next year I’m gonna have to make 2. And I’m gonna have to step up my game with the garnishes.

I also just want to share a picture of how absolutely gorgeous our cookie display was this year: