Shine Supper Club: Baking with Eggnog

"Write a blog post telling us about 

your favorite holiday recipe." 

So reads the directions for the December Shine Supper Club, a smorgasbord celebration of the festive fare that makes this season so delicious. Okay.

Is there anything more holiday-ish than eggnog?!? Well, I know that there are some people who don't like eggnog. These recipes aren't for them. For the rest of us, especially my Christmas babe, these treats smell of nutmeg and other spices and taste like Christmas!

Last year said Christmas baby and I baked an eggnog cheesecake for his 8th birthday. It was a hit!

Dylan's Eggnog Cheesecake

CRUST

2 C crushed lemon-ginger cookies

1 C ground almonds

1/2 C (stick) melted butter

1 T ground cinnamon

2 T organic granulated sugar

Mix all of the ingredients together until moist clumps form. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides of a springform pan that's been wrapped in foil. Chill crust while preparing filling.

FILLING

3 - 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 C organic granulated sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 C organic eggnog

1 T vanilla extract

1 t ground nutmeg

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in eggnog and vanilla.

Transfer filling to prepared crust. Place springform pan in large roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of springform pan. Bake until cheesecake puffs around edges, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Turn off oven. Let cake stand in oven 1 hour, leaving oven door ajar.

Transfer cake to rack. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Cool completely. Remove foil from pan sides. Cover cake and chill overnight. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Remove pan sides to serve.

And just this weekend, we whipped up eggnog bars. Again, it's already beloved and will certainly make another appearance before the holidays are through.

Dylan's Eggnog Cookie Bars

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.

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.

Enjoy! I'm linking this post to Yahoo's Shine Supper Club.