Easy Spiked Eggnog With Coffee and Brandy – Without Heavy Cream

Spiked eggnog is a really rich and creamy holiday drink. It is really easy to make. Just a few ingredients, traditional spices of cinnamon and nutmeg then add in your favorite liquer voila! You have a batch of creamy delicious eggnog ready for the holidays. This spiced and spiked warm eggnog drink uses whole milk instead of heavy cream, egg yolks (no egg whites) and has a hint of coffee that coffee lovers will appreciate.

Ingredients For This Spiked Eggnog

This recipe uses 4 main ingredients and makes about 8 servings. A brandy eggnog recipe that’s easy, tastes great, and is perfect for the holidays, and for entertaining! It tastes like eggnog, but better.

It’s easy to make and does not require an icebath! You can even serve it warm for a good drink on a cold winter night. Top it with freshly ground cinnamon and nutmeg for that familiar smell of Christmas.

We got our inspiration for this eggnog from the Chileans – they call it Cola De Mono (which literally means “Monkey’s Tail” – more on that later).

No worries, we’re only using ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. There are no weird ingredients, no heavy cream, and no sugar. Just a good old traditional eggnog made from scratch that tastes like a little piece of heaven.

WHAT DOES IT TASTE LIKE?

This creamy spiked eggnog is what the lovechild of an eggnog and a White Russian would look like: a creamy, spiked beverage with a bitter coffee kick and a brandy warmer.

In line with other rich, high-calorie festive comestibles, this recipe reads like a fantasy wishlist of full-bodied ingredients that rolls dessert, ground coffee and a digestive into one very filling Christmas toast for a Holiday Cheer.

Steps to Make It

Eggnog is traditionally served cold, but sometimes we like it nice and hot! This recipe is made from scratch using brandy, egg yolks, whole milk, instant coffee, and a few spices to bring out the unique flavors.

All you have to do is beat the egg yolks while the rest of the wet ingredients is warmed in a saucepan. Introduce the egg yolks one ladle at a time until well mixed, and let chill.

Once chilled, add alcohol and vanilla extract.

Serve over ice in an alcohol glass – might we suggest a margarita glass?!

Recipe Add Ons and Variations

Add a shot of espresso for some extra oomph.

Serve with whipped cream on top if desired.

Sprinkle your favorite holiday spices – cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or even cardamom!

Adjust alcohol to your desired strongness.

Substitute Brandy for whiskey, cognac, rum, or try Bailey’s for extra creaminess.

You May Also Like….

If you love recipes made with alcohol, or just love coffee recipes you ought to check out our homemade cake recipe from Greenland complete with spiked coffee made with kahlua, whiskey and grand marnier! Love sweets made with alcohol – you wouldn’t believe our apple pie recipe made from scratch with whiskey!,

COLA DE MONO – “MONKEY’S TAIL” – ORIGIN OF THE NAME

There’s some debate in Chile about the etymology of cola de mono: after all what does a primate’s tail have to do with a milky Holiday Season brew? The simplest theory attributes the drink’s name to its color – monkey brown – though, we’re not sold. Slightly more believable is the suggestion that the name cola de mono stuck after the drink was originally distributed in bottles recycled from a Spanish drink called Anis de Mono, whose label featured a monkey with a long tail.

However, our favorite tale as to the origins of cola de mono’s name refer to Pedro Montt, who was the president of Chile from 1906 to 1910. One night, president Montt was at a party that no one wanted him to leave, possibly on account of inclement weather. When he asked for his trusty Colt pistol to be brought to him so he could go home, the hosts pretended they couldn’t find it, in order to eke out the fiesta a little longer. Montt did not like to travel without his Colt.

As with the best of college parties, once all the wine and spirits were used up, revelers were inspired to knock together a drink from pretty much anything they could find lying around: some brandy, cups milk (you can use almond milk or oat milk as an alternative) and a ground coffee dregs came to hand and were mixed together with a little granulated sugar and so was born the colt de Montt. Which, after several rounds of the drink supposedly eroded to cola de mono at the slip of brandy-loosened tongues.

SPIKED EGGNOG – ORIGIN OF THE DRINK

The origins of the drink itself are a little more complex. Cola de mono’s similarity to other milky drinks in neighboring countries suggests that the evolution of the drink can be traced up through Central America’s rompope, Guatemala’s salcaja and Puerto Rico’s coquito.

There are some suggestions that the drink was brought over there by the Spanish, but it seems more likely that it traveled south from Northern America, where eggnog was rife.

Rompope was probably first brewed in Mexico in the 17th century by nuns at the Santa Clara convent in Puebla. The convent frequently received and entertained local and visiting dignitaries, and so it would not have been unusual for them to mix up such a rich drink for their guests.

Apparently, the nuns were sometimes even allowed to partake of their own home-made brew, which contained egg yolk, milk, brandy and spices.

BEFORE EGGNOG, THERE WAS POSSET

Eggnog itself became popular with the North American settlers, while legends of George Washington’s love of the heavy cream concoction abound. It’s thought that this eggnog of the new Americans was an update of an old medieval drink from the British Isles called posset. Posset was a sort of custard in between a drink and a dessert that was made from curdled milk and most often percent alcohol called sack, which is a sweet ale similar to sherry, though wine and ale were also used. Prescribed to King Charles I by his physician, posset was said to have medicinal properties, a fact reinforced by Shakespeare who also made mention of the drink’s more entertaining effects in the Merry Wives of Windsor.

With the prevalence of dairy farming in the New World, simple ingredients like eggs and milk were less of a luxury than they had been in the settlers’ old Homemade Eggnog European homes. This goes some way to explaining how eggnog took off in the new colonies. Wine and ale were replaced in the making of the drink by rum, which was a lot more prevalent. Often distilled at home with molasses from the British Drink, it was far cheaper for Americans than imported brandies.

(NOTE: Want to save this recipe for later? You can make a homemade eggnog recipe a downloadable PDF version of this recipe by clicking here.)

click to download recipe

WHAT LIQUOR GOES IN EGGNOG?

While eggnog can still be mixed with anything from cognac to tequila, for this version, we recommend using a brandy like pisco or something similar. In Chile, aguardiente – an anise-flavored liquor made from sugar cane that’s considered Colombia’s national drink – is often used, but we preferred to go with a more subtle flavor of alcohol.

We tests a few different recipes and our favorite is brandy. It is subtle but rich and creamy.

However, we found that substituting the brandy for a more interesting liquor like Grand Marnier or Cointreau might deepen the orange flavor.

If you prefer creamy over hints of orange, go with Bailey’s.

If you’re like me in my younger years, who used to love Dunkin Donut’s Hazelnut flavored ice coffee, you can use Frangelico here – it is less creamy but has rich hints of hazelnut that you’ll appreciate.

EGGNOG INGREDIENTS

This is a really simple drink to prepare and shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes or so, which means, if you have all the ingredients already in your kitchen cabinets, you can shoot out a spiked eggnog on the spur of the moment. Though preferably not at the end of a long party when there’s nothing else left to drink!

First, collect all the spices and separate out the egg yolk.

First, whisk your milk. This is an important step as whisking milk until frothy before heating breaks down the protein that causes it to scald. Pour the whisked milk into a saucepan along with the cloves, ground cinnamon, cinnamon stick, orange essence and ground nutmeg. Set to a medium-high heat.

Whisked milk in saucepan with cloves, ground cinnamon, cinnamon stick, orange essence and ground nutmeg

After a couple of minutes, dissolve the instant coffee into the milk while it’s warming up, and continue to heat.

Beat the yolks in a separate bowl for about a minute until it starts to form a soft peak. 

When the milk starts to boil, lower the heat to the minimum and remove one ladle of the milk. Add the warm milk to the egg mixture and keep beating. Doing this one ladle at a time is very important. It will raise the temperature of the eggs gradually so they don’t curdle or become scrambled eggs!

Add the yolk and milk mixture to the milk on the heat, stir and allow to thicken.

Adding warm milk to beaten egg mixture

Adjust to medium heat and allow the eggnog mixture to cook (boil) for another five minutes or so. Take the pot off the heat and allow to cool. Now add the pisco.

Then add the vanilla extract and a sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon.

Now strain the liquid through a mesh strainer and let it cool completely. This particular creamy eggnog is a drink best served cold. Put in some ice cubes and you’ve got yourself an iced eggnog!

Straining liquid mixture through mesh strainer

Serve with or without ice. And no matter how good it tastes, try and drink in moderation! 

OUR TAKE ON THE RECIPE

As we mentioned above, we decided to go with a source recipe that made the cola de mono with eggs, as we were going for the thicker eggnog-like mixture. If you prefer to make your monkey tail more liquid, or you just don’t like eggs, then by all means omit them from the recipe.

We also substituted orange zest for orange essence, since zest can carry a certain bitterness we wanted to avoid in our drink. You can skip this altogether, but it can make your eggnog very interesting – a curled orange peel on your eggnog can be a great conversation starter.

TIPS AND TRICKS

When adding eggs to the hot liquid, it’s important to always temper the eggs during this process so that they don’t heat up too quickly and coagulate right away. Heating them slowly and carefully with the spoonful of milk before adding them to the saucepan will make a delicious cocktail in a smooth consistency of a perfect cola de mono.

You Might Also Like:

Spiked Eggnog with Rum – Puerto Rican style (easy ingredients!)

Other Holiday Treats You Might Like:

Silver Dollar Pancakes with Confectioner’s Sugar

New Orleans Beignets – Extra Fluffy, with Chocolate Sauce and Raspberry Sauce

Very Rich Sponge Cakes

Cooled beverage ready to serve in a glass

(NOTE: Want to save this recipe for later? You can take home a downloadable PDF version of this recipe by clicking here.)

click to download recipe
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Coffee beverage in a glass container

Spiked Eggnog


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  • Author: Noreen
  • Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 1¼ cups pisco or other brandy
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • A few drops of orange flavoring essence (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons of your favorite instant coffee
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Whisk the milk until frothy, then pour into a saucepan along with the, cloves, ground cinnamon, cinnamon stick, orange essence and ground nutmeg. Set to a medium-high heat. 

2. After a couple of minutes, dissolve the instant coffee into the milk while it’s warming up, and continue to heat.

Step 2: Gradually Introduce Eggs to Heat

  1. Beat the yolks in a bowl for about a minute
  2. When the milk starts to boil, lower the heat to the minimum and remove one ladle of the milk.
  3. Add the hot milk to the yolk mixture and keep beating.
  4. Add the yolk and milk mixture to the milk on the heat, stir and allow to thicken.
  5. Take the heat to medium and allow to cook for another five minutes or so.

Step 3: Remove Heat and Add the Liquor

  1. Now take the pot off the heat and allow to cool.
  2. Add the pisco and the vanilla, and any more spices or sugar, according to taste.
  3. Strain out any lumps or bits in the liquid and serve with ice once completely cooled.
  • Cook Time: 10 mins

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