Vegan Eggnog

I'm lactose intolerant, and I was invited to a Christmas cookie party by a pregnant woman, and I was in charge of bringing eggnog.

Now, we live in Hong Kong, so it's not a normal beverage to have around, even if I wanted the dairy kind. I've made the egg (and liquored-up) version before. But without the raw eggs, homemade eggnog is a different creation altogether.

I used this recipe and this recipe for inspiration and came up with my own version. It was a hit! The Vitamix even made it frothy enough on the first day to have that "homemade eggnog" feel. I used the leftovers to make eggnog lattes for a couple days. Yum!


VEGAN EGGNOG
(makes about 1.5 liters; easily halved)

4 cups almond milk
2 cans full-fat coconut milk
2 Tablespoons real maple syrup (not the corn syrup kind, but the kind that comes from a tree)
12-14 small pitted dates*
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 pinches of salt
2 dashes of cinnamon
2 dashes of cloves

--Place all ingredients into a blender*
--Blend until smooth and uniform (this could take several minutes because of the dates)
--Refrigerate your eggnog until chilled
--Stir or shake before the first time serving to work the foam back in (this will make sense when you see it)

*If you don't have a strong blender, like a Vitamix, it might be wise to pre-chop your dates, and you may have to blend for longer to make the texture smooth.