Eggnog Rice Pudding

This Eggnog Rice Pudding is the perfect way to use up leftover eggnog and make a rich, delicious festive treat! Plus, it couldn’t be easier to make!

Hi guys! I hope you are doing OK, I have one last festive recipe to share with you before I sign off for 2020: Eggnog Rice Pudding. Creamy, rich, flavour filled and the perfect thing to make with leftover Eggnog!

I made mine dairy free, but you can use traditional eggnog, dairy free eggnog, one with alcohol, one without. Totally up to you!!

The ingredients other than eggnog are very simple and you don’t need many.

However, let’s talk about Christmas before we get into how to make this Eggnog Rice Pudding!

I know this Christmas is going to be very different from all the others, but we have to cling to the positives and keep telling ourselves that “this too shall pass”. It’s been a horrible, tough year for so many and I, like so many, had a glimmer of hope that we might be able to see our families over Christmas.

I’m not talking politics here, I don’t care what your beliefs are or whether you agree or disagree with decisions made. Let’s face it, we’re all just doing our best. However, I’m just talking on a human level, Christmas is a time for family, but this year we have to stay home, or if we can see family, it’s very limited.

Our plans were always small. We spend every Boxing day with my parents, then grandparents. But we were going to bubble up with my parents and brother/SIL and that would be our three households. Christmas day is the only day my dad really, truly doesn’t have to get up, or even think about work, so we stay home on Christmas day and visit family on Boxing day.

This year, however, my brother is in tier 4 and my parents and I are in tier 2. So we are not mixing at all over Christmas.

Yet, I still know that we have it a lot better than others and my heart goes out to everyone who has been awfully affected by this year. I’m grateful for front line workers; doctors, nurses, paramedics, the police, fire fighters, supermarket workers, delivery drivers. You’ve all kept this country going while a lot of us just sit at home working or on furlough. You’ve made sacrifices for us; like not seeing your family, or working in an environment that makes it highly likely you’ll pick it up. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I hope everyone manages to find some joy, no matter how small, this Christmas.

NOW, LET’S TALK ABOUT HOW TO MAKE THIS EGGNOG RICE PUDDING…

I made Dairy Free Eggnog the other week and, while I drank a lot of it, I had some leftover. (There’s also a traditional Eggnog recipe on my blog).

I love eggnog and I love rice pudding, so it seemed natural to try making Eggnog Rice Pudding. At first, I was just making it for me and I didn’t even know if it would work. However, once I tried it… I just had to share it!

It’s creamy, it’s full of flavour and it really does taste just like eggnog! I was worried that maybe the flavour would be muted by the milk, or it just wouldn’t work in the cooking stage. But, I’m pleased to say it does work. You need slightly more liquid that I would normally use, but that’s it.

I added extra vanilla and nutmeg to really ramp up the flavour, but the eggnog does add flavour. Most of all it adds this amazing richness to the rice pudding. It tastes decadent and it tastes like Christmas! What could be better?

So, all that’s left for me to do is to wish you a merry Christmas. I know we won’t wake up January 1st and everything will magically be OK, but this will pass. It can’t rain forever. Cling to any positive you can, take time for yourself, for your mental health if you need to and be kind to each other. I’m taking a few weeks off now, but I’ll be back with new content in January!