Holiday Favorite

Who likes eggnog???

I've actually never (at least I don't think I have) had a full glass of eggnog--with or without alcohol. I am a huge fan of eggnog frozen yogurt...we used to have this at TCBY back in the day when I worked there in high school...but I have never had a full glass of ACTUAL eggnog. Is this strange??

I hear that it's definitely an acquired taste and ya either like it or ya don't. The flavor, to me, is awesome so I had the urge to make eggnog cupcakes! We were having a holiday party at work on 12-12-12 (WEIRD!!) and my CFO presented me with another bake-off opportunity. This guy dislikes literally everything that has to do with food. Well, not EVERYTHING, but he is extremely picky. However, he is apparently a very good baker. When he proposed the idea to me a few weeks ago when we began to organize the holiday party, I took it! I'd participated in a 3-round bake off last month with a friend and I lost 2-1 :( However, this does not stop me from keeping up with my passion!

The only rule to this bake off was our dessert had to be holiday-themed. We had decided on cupcakes also. I immediately thought of eggnog as a traditional holiday flavor. I also thought about ginger bread, however, I knew that not many people acquire a taste for this. Then again, there are probably many people that don't like eggnog, but the idea of an eggnog cupcake sounded pleasing!

Then he got sick.

Not too sick though! He was out for a few days here and there and mentioned the day before the party that he probably wasn't going to be making anything for the bake off. I was saddened, but not TOO upset, because we had been talking about it for a while! He said he'd probably just buy something from the store and TRY to stay at work for the party.

Then came 12-12-12!

As I walked down the hallway to my office, he says to me, "Hey Alivia, I put my cupcakes on your desk so you could try one before I put them out for everyone...I usually bake by smell and I can't smell s*** right now so I don't want someone to die from eating one." HA! At this point, I was sort of displeased because I felt like I could have done a way better job on my mini eggnog cupcakes with maple syrup cream cheese frosting! He went on to say we were still doing the bake off EXCEPT he was leaving before the party. WOW. He ended up making candy cane cheesecake cupcakes which were pretty scrumptious I must say.

Long story short, everyone raved about my cupcakes and ate 2, 3, or 4! I had co-workers saying, "Alivia, you SOOO won that bake off!!" So that made me feel 20X better that day :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Don't forget to check out that recipe! There is no alcohol in these cupcakes and they have just the right cinnamon-nutmeg spice to give that real, eggnog flavor! I also used organic maple syrup that my boss had given me. I made them into minis and they were all gone after the party!