Day 4 — White Eggnog or Advocaat Muffins Recipe

Today is day 4 of my '12 days of Christmas' series of postings. Every day from now until Christmas Eve I will be posting a new Christmas-associated recipe. But as a bonus, I am also providing the recipe for a classic Dutch Christmas drink, Advocaat.

Over the past few days I have provided a number of baking recipe, and today I am continuing with that theme, this time providing a muffin recipe that contains that most Christmasy of drinks, eggnog (this also works with Advocaat).

Considering that this recipe can be made with Advocaat, I have also decided to provide a recipe for the home-made version of that Christmasy drink here too. Advocaat is a Dutch version of eggnog, made with egg yolks, sugar and brandy or rum with just a touch of vanilla extract. It is truly delicious and moreish, but packs more of a punch than most expect.

As well as being used as a drink, or as a flavouring to cakes, as in this recipe, Advocaat can also be served as a topping for ice cream. My wife even likes it instead of custard or white sauce spooned over her Christmas pudding!

Here you can find a link to all the Christmas and all the other Twelve Days of Christmas recipes published on this blog... a true treasure-trove of seasonal dishes.

White Eggnog or Advocaat Muffins

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

360g (3 cups) plain flour
100g sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
1 egg
400ml eggnog or Advocaat (see below for a recipe)
120ml vegetable oil
75g seedless raisins
65g pecan nuts, chopped

Method:

Stir together all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggnog, egg and oil. Turn the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (take care not to over-mix).

Fold in the raisins and pecan nuts, then spoon into greased and lined muffin cups (or papers), filling them no more than 2/3 full.

Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 170ºc (350ºF) and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake emerges cleanly).

Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before storing or serving.

The recipe below is for Advocaat, essentially the Dutch version of eggnogg. In the Netherlands they like their Advocaat very, very, thick (almost like yoghurt in consistency). I like mine just a little thinner than this (thick but still pourable, if you like).

Advocaat Recipe

Serves: 10

Ingredients:

10 egg yolks

1/2 tsp sea salt

265g (1 1/3 cups) white sugar

360ml (1 1/2 cups) brandy or cognac

2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

In a bowl, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until thick, pale and creamy.

Whilst beating constantly, slowly trickle in the brandy or cognac until completely combined.

Pour the resultant mixture into a saucepan, place over low heat and warm gently, still whisking constantly. You have to be careful here as you do not want the Advocaat to boil. Rather, you want to heat gently so that the mixture thickens sufficiently to coat the back of a spoon.

As soon as the Advocaat mixture reaches this stage, take the pan off the heat then whisk in the vanilla extract. Pour into bottles and store in the refrigerator. It will keep for a few days. Serve in wide-brimmed cocktail glasses.

When mixed with whipped cream and dusted with cocoa powder, you create the decadent Dutch dessert known as Tokkelroom.

UPDATE! My new recipes book eBook: Cupcakes, Muffins, Fairy Cakes and More — Baking Secrets has just been published in an edition for Amazon Kindle!

This recipe and over 360 other recipes for cupcakes, muffins and other small cakes can be found in this eBook.

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Every classic and traditional cupcake and muffin style is dealt with in the book and you get over 60 recipes for different types of icings and frostings. The ebook is everything you need to successfully bake cupcakes and muffins. You also get a chapter covering different muffin and cupcake styles from across the globe. Get you copy today and help this blog and the Celtnet Recipes website keep going.