In Support of Egg Nog: Egg Nog Tea Bread

I mentioned before about a common punching bag of the holiday season, Fruitcake. As promised, I will move on to the next innocent butt of a lot of holiday sneering, Egg nog.

I adore Egg nog! I think a lot of people who claim to hate egg nog have not actually tried it. They keep imagining how straight egg in a glass of milk would taste. That isn't the flavor of egg nog at all (though I know that if you make egg nog yourself you will indeed use a bunch of raw eggs). But disliking egg nog because it has raw egg in it makes no more sense then not eating raw cookie dough (and we all do that!!) because it has raw egg in it. Essentially, you can't taste the egg. The taste is rich, sweet, creamy and nutmeg-y. How can that be bad?

I like it cold served with some nice holiday cookies. A bit of whiskey or rum thrown in is A-OK to me too! And because I'm a hypocrite who will inhale a pound of peanut butter fudge but only drink skim milk, I usually buy 'lite' egg nog. It's a more refreshing consistency (same thing I think about skim vs. 2% milk). Also when it comes to baking, I don't miss the extra fat, but I hope my ass does. I have also cut regular egg nog with some skim milk. Again, it's just a nicer drink, I think.

This sweet bread is a super easy recipe perfect for the holiday season that I found in this amazing little cook booklet my Mom got in a stack of cookbooks one year. This is such an amazing little book!

Each recipe starts with a cake mix. Every one is easy. And I've made many in this book and each one is really good! So this Egg Nog Tea Bread became a staple for holiday baking. It makes great small loaves perfect for giving or pairing up with a cup of coffee. It's not too sweet or too heavy.

Eggnog Tea Bread

1 pkg pound cake

3/4 cup egg nog

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 large eggs

1 cup powdered sugar

2 T eggnog

Combine mix, eggnog, nutmeg and eggs in a large bowl and mix with electric mixer for 3 min. Pour into greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 30 min. Combine powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons eggnog and drizzle over bread when cool.

Other Hints: Every time I make this bread I forget how sticky and gloopy the batter is when you mix it up. I always fear I've messed something up until I remember its always that way. I think it's just the egg nog that makes it that way. Remember if you make one or two bigger loaves to watch the cooking time. My 8 small loaves took more like 25 min.