Cupkins December: Eggnog Muffins

Today is the first Monday of December- I can't believe we are in December already! Time for another Cupkins collaboration between Joanne of Ready, Set, Craft! and I. This months theme is Christmas. I love seasonal foods and when I started seeing eggnog in the store it made me think about the holidays. I knew I wanted to try to make muffins with that flavor.

Eggnog muffins were probably the hardest flavor I've ever tried to get. I made batch after batch of muffins and I couldn't really get the intense flavor of eggnog to come through (Some batches actually had no flavor).

I started with just substituting the milk in my normal recipe with eggnog. Result- A moist muffin with no flavor. Next I doubled the amount of nog- same result.

Then I tried adding the actual ingredients that go into eggnog into the muffins.

These are two ingredients that I don't often use first thing in the morning!

After many batches of different combinations I landed on something that's good. It has a nice light eggnog flavor and is a moist, tender, muffin... but still doesn't have the intense flavor I was hoping for.

Here's where I came out:

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a muffin pan with non-stick spray.

• 1.5 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of eggnog (I used the light kind)
• pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon bourbon
• 3 tablespoons of rum

A note about the Rum: I played around a with the amount of rum in the muffins- to me that's the taste in eggnog I also tried rum extract. While I got a more intense flavor from the extract I could detect something in the muffins that I didn't like- a bitter after taste. You could use whichever you prefer. I also tried adding both real rum and a little extract- that was good too.

Sprinkle the tops of each muffin with nutmeg and cinnamon just like a glass of eggnog and bake for about 18 minutes at 375. Or until a tooth inserted in the center comes out clean.

I made six large muffins- this recipe will make 12 regular sized muffins but they will bake for a shorter time.

These have a really good flavor (even though it wasn't the intense flavor I was looking for) and it's a great way to use up extra nog. I know there are some people who won't drink eggnog (I used to be one of them) but love the flavor- so if you're one of those people this is perfect you!

Head over to Joanne's site (by clicking on the cupkins logo) she'll have a yummy holiday cupcake to share with you later today!