One of the adopted traditions of my family is to have egg nog offered during the Christmas holidays to family and friends. Egg nog is a milk-based drink that’s offered at supermarkets just before and during Christmas. It also has eggs, nutmeg and may contain other spices. Often it gets spiked with rum, whiskey or brandy and it’s also useful in coffee (instead of cream), making French Toast, Creme brulee or cheesecake!

One can also make their own egg nog but most households just buy the stuff from the supermarket, as I have done. I found some extra egg nog in the fridge and I was craving ice cream. This recipe is really easy, your only prerequisite being to own an ice cream maker. Perhaps you received one for Christmas? If you’re thinking of splurging on an ice cream maker, I recommend this Cuisinart model.

Ice cream usually has dairy, eggs and flavouring – egg nog already has all those components in the carton so all I’m doing here is accentuating what I like in egg nog: creamyness, nutmeg, sweetness and the booze! I’ve add some cream, grated nutmeg, honey and some rum-soaked raisins (borrowing from rum & raisin ice cream). This recipe is easy, pragmatic as you can adjust the ingredients to your tastes but i insist you make the salted caramel rum sauce as I’ve laid-out for you below. I add the coarse sea salt to the warm caramel sauce at the end so that I get that crunch and burst of salt that goes so well with caramel.

Egg Nog Ice Cream With Salted Caramel Rum Sauce

3 1/2 cups of good egg nog

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup honey

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup raisins

rum

Salted Caramel Rum Sauce

1 1/2 cups plain white sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

coarse sea salt

1. Place your raisins in a cup and fill with enough water to just cover them and allow to steep for 5 minutes. Strain the water and place back in a mug and pour a just enough rum to cover the raisins. Allow to steep in the rum for at least 1 hour, reserve.  In a bowl, add the egg nog, cream, honey and nutmeg and stir. Adjust flavours with  nutmeg and honey. Pour into your ice cream maker and churn for 25 minutes then add the rum-soaked raisins (plus rum) into the mixture and churn for an extra 5 minutes.
2. Empty your ice cream into a tub a freeze overnight. To make the caramel rum sauce, place the sugar in a medium pot with some water and melt the sugar over medium heat. Continue to simmer the sugar until a copper-toned colour has been achieved then take away from the heat and pour in the cream and stir, followed by the vanilla, cinnamon, butter and corn syrup. Allow to cool to warm before serving or reserve and gently reheat for future use.
3. The next day, serve with a drizzle of slightly warmed caramel sauce and sprinkle some coarse sea salt on top.

* I don’t use corn syrup that much and its presence in this recipe is to keep the sauce from hardening. You may omit but I’m keeping it in to keep the smooth texture of the sauce. It’s only 2 Tbsp. for a whole tub of ice cream!