Dylan's Eggnog Bar Cookies

On Friday, the wind and rain battered us as we ran from the parking lot to the classrooms. Dylan's hand was wet in mine. "Mom," he suggested, "I think it's an eggnog and cookies kind of a day. What do you think?" Sounds good, Sweetheart. But do you mean to drink or to bake into cookies? "Both!" Perfect. 

Well, I'm two days late, but it's still an eggnog and cookie day! And even though Dylan was my kitchen elf tonight, I'm calling this part of Riley's 12 Days of Christmas Cookies series. Dylan started with my trusty crust that I use for my lemon squares...with an eggnog twist.

2 C white whole wheat flour

1/2 C powdered sugar

3/4 C butter

pinch of pink Himalaya salt

1 T cold eggnog

Preheat oven to 350. Place flour, powdered sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Rub in butter till the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in eggnog until the mixture forms a ball. Press the dough into a 9"x13" baking pan and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Then we used the Washington Post's Eggnog Bars recipe for the filling...except that I swapped brandy for rum and added in more spices.

4 large egg yolks

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1 T  brandy

1 t pure vanilla extract

1/4 t ground nutmeg

1/4 t ground cinnamon

dash of ground ginger

Whisk together the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, rum, vanilla extract and nutmeg in a bowl until well combined. Pour over the hot crust. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the filling looks set. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely - at least 30 minutes - before cutting into squares.