Eggnog Muffins and Hot Rum

By / Food / February 9th, 2012 / 1

Duncan Holmes recalls Christmas with these tasty recipes for leftovers (and ingredients that are still available in supermarkets, like eggnog!)

Eggnog is one of those seasonal things that invariably finds its way to the back of the fridge to await an uncertain future. On several occasions I have given it new life in a mix of muffins. This recipe is pretty well guaranteed to make eggnog palatable much later than you may have wished to face it as … eggnog.

Eggnog Muffins

2 cups sifted flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp bran
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup eggnog
1 cup finely chopped pineapple
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1/2 cup dried cherries
Grated orange rind

Sift the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder together. Mix in bran.
Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Add the butter and eggnog to the eggs. Add the pineapple, raisins, cherries and orange rind.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients with a few swift strokes. Fill well-greased muffin tins about 2/3 full and bake 20 to 25 minutes in a 400˚F oven.



hot rum
One holiday leftover you’ll need to contend with will be one barely-touched bottle of rum, and a commercial mix of sugary flavours that, in combination with boiling water and a cinnamon stick, makes a rib-sticking hot rum. You may have had one during the season, because, again, it’s tradition. But like eggnog, for whatever reason, you’re unlikely to have two. The rum will be returned to the liquor cabinet, and the mix will go back into the cupboard with other mixes of dubious lineage that were bought on a whim and are being saved for “special occasions.” The next special occasion will be the opportunity that comes in January when you have a wicked cold. Make up another “hot rum,” squeeze in some lemon juice, rug yourself up in front of a fire and try to convince yourself that you’ve found a cure. You haven’t, but feeling sorry for yourself will feel a whole lot better.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Our West Coast wordsmith Duncan Holmes likes to cook all parts of the meal—hot and cold apps for the eyes; big, generous mains, where timing, color and taste come together on sparkling, white plates—and there’s always enough for seconds. But it’s at dessert time when he really shines. Not with precious fancy dancy, but with a melt-in-your-mouth-pastry apple pie. Granny Smiths, of course, and French vanilla ice cream.

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