Holiday Eggnog Biscotti

Prepared with eggnog and whiskey, Holiday Eggnog Biscotti is a cookie confection that’s all grown up! Perfectly crunchy, delightfully balanced, and terribly tempting; this is the ultimate biscotti!

This is the third biscotti in my 12 Biscotti of Christmas Series. The first was a playful, colourful biscotti for the kids. And, yesterday’s was a classic biscotti with traditional flavours. Today’s is for the grown ups. It’s for those who love the subtle hint of a little bit of Christmas cheer. Get ready for Holiday Eggnog Biscotti!

EGGNOG – LOVE IT OR HATE IT?

There seems to be only two classes of people when it comes to eggnog. We either love it or we hate it. There’s rarely a person who’s in between. Personally, I can’t drink it, but I love the flavour. It’s a little too thick for my liking. That’s why I prefer to bake with it – like in the case of my Eggnog Bundt Cake!

For this recipe, you’ll need only a half cup of eggnog. Most of the prepared eggnog that I see in stores are sold in one litre bottles. That’s a lot of eggnog if you’re purchasing it only to bake with.

You can substitute the eggnog if you wish. Since eggnog is thick and creamy, you’ll want something that has a similar consistency. If you want to use milk, use a whole, fatty milk. I would not recommend using anything less than 3%. Alternatively, you can use half and half.

The best substitute that I have found for eggnog in baking is buttermilk. Not only is the consistency present, but I like the tangy flavour of the buttermilk in baked goods too. If you’re adding the little bit of whiskey, fatty milk, or buttermilk will do the trick nicely.

LET’S CALL IT CHRISTMAS CHEER!

Oftentimes, any drink that is alcohol based and served at Christmastime is referred to as Christmas cheer. Alcohol is quite common in baked goods, especially at this time of year. I don’t tend to cook or bake with alcohol much, because we don’t drink. Because we don’t drink, we never have alcohol in the house.

I made an exception for these biscotti and purchased a bottle of whiskey. To be honest, I had to Google what whiskey was. I thought whiskey was a slang term that everyone used for a very strong, unmixed drink. Anyway, I purchased the smallest bottle of Jack Daniel’s I could find and there you have it!

If you’re not a fan of using alcohol in your baking, you can easily substitute it. In the place of the whiskey, use vanilla extract instead. Since eggnog already has a strong vanilla flavour, it will be perfect. Alternatively, if you want to use alcohol, but don’t have whiskey, you can use brandy or rum.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR BISCOTTI EXTRA SPECIAL

Biscotti is traditionally served with espresso. I love the combination of a sweet biscotti dunked into a very strong coffee! Since these biscotti are glazed, the dunking thing is not a good idea. If you prefer to dunk, you can skip the glazing part completely.

Here’s what I like to do – get a very hot coffee and sprinkle in a bit of cinnamon and a little bit of nutmeg. Those two warm spices accentuate the flavour of the coffee and work so well with Holiday Eggnog Biscotti!

If you glaze the biscotti, sprinkle the glaze very lightly with freshly ground nutmeg. You can buy a whole nutmeg. They look like really fat raw almonds. Use a nutmeg grater to get it just perfect. This is the one I have. You can store your unused whole nutmeg right inside it. Of course, store-bought ground nutmeg will work too. Be scant; the flavour can be intense!

PACKAGING AND STORING:

These biscotti will last in the freezer for three months. Be sure you have a good container with a tight seal. Whenever I’m freezing cookies, I always double up on the seal action. Before I place the lid on, I always drape a sheet of plastic wrap on top. Then I push the lid on. I just feel that the lid fits more tightly. Any little thing I can do to keep the frost out, I’m going to do it!

Like I always say, if you freeze any baked goods, remove only the amount you want when you decide to thaw them. Fetch the container from the freezer and remove only what you need. Put the lid back on and get the container back in the fridge.

To properly thaw baked goods, place them on a plate or a wire cooling rack. Don’t pile them. Spread them out and give them some space. Let them sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. They will taste fresh and perfect every single time!

CONCLUSION:

Like I said at the beginning, I’ll be posting 12 biscotti recipes in this series on back-to-back days. If you can’t wait, you can certainly refer back to a series from previous years. Just click on the collection photos below. Cheers!