Eggnog Cupcakes |Cooking With Amanda

I have very mixed feelings when it comes to eggnog. First off, I hate milk. Like, with a passion. Such is my disgust with milk that my friends will not even drink it or eat cereal around me. Thankfully, my husband is also in the No Milk camp, so we live happily in love, with neither of us disgusting the other by slurping from bowls of cereal.

But is eggnog the same as milk? It pretty much is, isn't it? It's thicker, of course. But it's more or less a flavored milk. But I DO love the flavor. It can be a bit much for me to drink – it's incredibly rich and has a perfume-ey quality to it sometimes, but oh is it perfect for baking with!

Eggnog is incredibly easy to use in recipes - from eggnog steel cut oatmeal to cranberry eggnog cheesecake, it's a pretty versatile ingredient. The festive nutmeg/cinnamon flavor pairs perfectly with baked goods, and eggnog is simple enough to swap for milk or cream. Don't even get me started on eggnog frosting – it's basically perfect.

If only used in small amounts, eggnog can be hard to detect in some recipes. In these cases, adding an extra dose of nutmeg and cinnamon helps bring out the flavor. I've never had eggnog with rum in it, but I hear that it's a thing. If you're fond of that flavor, I think a splash of rum extract would work, especially in a recipe like these cupcakes!

I started with one of my favorite cupcake recipes here, swapping out the milk for eggnog and adding nutmeg and a bit of ground cloves. The frosting also has a good dose of eggnog and a sprinkle of nutmeg, and the flavor is so festive and yummy! My Lucy Goose taste tested a few(ish) of these (she's a cake-a-holic, it's a thing) and gave them all a thumbs up!

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Eggnog Cupcakes Recipe

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Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

2 sticks salted butter, slightly softened
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup eggnog

For the Frosting:

2 sticks butter, slightly softened
1/4 cup eggnog
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

For the Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla.
With the mixer on medium low, add flour and milk alternately, starting and ending with flour mixture and scraping the bowl as needed.
Fill muffin tins 2/3 full.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until center of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

For the Frosting:

In the bowl of your mixer, beat butter and eggnog on medium low speed until smooth and combined.
Add powdered sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon, beating on low until just mixed.
Increase speed to high and beat for one minute until smooth and fluffy.
Frost cooled cupcakes.