Start by preparing the infused milk. Pour milk into a pot and heat up.
Slit open your vanilla bean to take out the seeds with a pointy knife.
Add the vanilla bean with scratched out seeds into the milk with the nutmeg.
Pour in whipping cream and combine.
Heat up the milk until it gets frothy then take from the heat and leave covered at the side somewhere to infuse (covered so that no skin forms). Never boil the milk. Leave to infuse for a minimum 30 minutes, the longer the better for the best flavor result.
For the Egg Custard
Separate the yolks from the whites. Keep whites at the side.
Add sugar to the egg yolks one batch at the time and whisk until the two ingredients combine. Add in all the sugar and whisk vigorously. The yolk will turn lighter. Whisk until the yellow is pale.
When your milk is infused, pick out the vanilla bean and discard the bean.
Add the infused milk whipping cream mixture to the whisked sugar yolk and combine. If the milk is still hot, a ladl at a time so that the egg doesn't curdle.
Take the eggnog back to the fire and heat up gradually while whisking. The eggnog will get frotty and hot, don't boil it! Take from the heat.
Leave the eggnog to cool in a container overnight in the fridge so that the flavors get to develop.
To serve
Decide if you want to serve your eggnog warm or cooled. Heat up in a pan or take it from the fridge cooled and prep for serving.
You can spike your eggnog with rum, whiskey or brandy by mixing it in. Boozy eggnog is optional.
Decide if you want thicker eggnog by adding whisked fluffy stiff egg white peaks. Whisk the egg white for that until stiff and add to the eggnog during the serving time or mix it in before you pour the eggnog into the glasses. *See Notes
Pour eggnog into glasses, garnish with a pinch of ground nutmeg and cinnamon. Decorate with a cinnamon stick. Serve up!
Video
Notes
You can choose to spike your eggnog with rum, brandy or whiskey. I used a blend of rum and brandy in the video. Alcohol is optional, so if you want to make eggnog for the kids, skip adding alcohol into the batch and just add your rum or whatever to each glass before pouring in the eggnog.
To make a thicker eggnog, add stiff egg white peaks to your eggnog. Keep in mind that egg whites are raw so use with caution. Uncooked egg whites have a bad reputation being blamed for salmonella contaminations. Use fresh raw eggs (and perhaps sterilized eggs if that is a thing where you live) and stick to a hygenic enviroment and you are good. I personaly have never had a problem with raw eggs but you need to make the call. You can always skip adding the egg whites to your eggnog if you have health concerns and that's ok too.
I create an egg whites layer in the glass after I poured the eggnog in because I think it looks nice. Kind of like a latte.
You can garnish with a pinch of ground nutmeg and cinnamon. This is also optional