Eggnog, Pumpkins and Tea

So! We've discussed autumn leaves, great pumpkins, the first frost and now, as we hinted at earlier today ~ eggnog is the latest sign of the season!

Every year, come the end of October, we eagerly anticipate the return of our favorite holiday beverage to our grocer's dairy shelves. Usually it appears just after Halloween, so I was quite surprised to find some at the store last night! I was even more surprised by all the new flavors! As it's still only October, I restrained myself and bought just a quart of each blend. (This is all pre-Thanksgiving research, don't you know?)

So let me first reveal the results of our preliminary taste test!

Happily, my mum stopped by just as we were preparing the test. This meant we had four testers and four eggnog contenders: Golden, Vanilla, Pumpkin and Cinnamon. This is the order we tested in, going from what we assumed would be mildest, to strongest in flavor. This turned out to be a great math lesson too! We rated each variety with a number between 1 and 4 (1 for not so hot, 4 for the best). Then we tallied and averaged the results, and drum roll jingle bells please ...

Golden Eggnog, with a winning score of 3.25 came in first! ("Pure and old-fashioned flavor.")

Tied for second at 3.125 were Vanilla Eggnog ("Like a melted vanilla milkshake.") and Pumpkin Eggnog ("Like liquefied pumpkin pie!")

Coming in last with a measly 1.375 was the Cinnamon Eggnog (Crackerjack summed it up best - "Cinnamon doesn't rock!")

While I preferred the Golden and my mum, the Vanilla, the boys definitely liked the Pumpkin the best. It is a very novel flavor I admit, and I think I would enjoy it on occasion. Actually, it would make a tasty eggnog cake. I've made this cake every year (using plain eggnog) and it is delicious! It makes lovely mini-bundt size tea cakes - perfect for gift baskets.

My idea for Thanksgiving Day (and if you're coming to dinner, stop reading here!) is to bake these little cakes with pumpkin eggnog and then drizzle the tops with an icing made with confectioner's sugar and more of the pumpkin eggnog. A sprinkling of green sugar would make them look just right - like sweet little Thanksgving pumpkins! There are even more eggnog recipes here.

Now speaking of eggnog, and considering how much we love child-friendly tea around here, I have to mention a fun tea we tried last winter. Just after New Year's, when the heady days of eggnog availability had passed, we were SO excited to find an eggnog flavored tea called what else, but Eggnogg'n: An Eggceptional Winter Tea. Do you know, I still have that box of tea? (Tea doesn't go bad, right?). I would not hesitate to imagine a "playful penguin tea" - maybe kicking off a South Pole unit study. These cookies would be perfect, don't you think? March of the Penguins comes to mind, as does Happy Feet, a new movie premiering next month - returning home to a cup of this tea and some frosted cookies would be a delightful pre-holiday treat!   

You know, I think I could tie tea in with anything!

I also wanted to mention that when I went to get the above link from Bigelow, I discovered a tea I'd never heard of before - Pumpkin Spice Autumn Spiced Tea. This sounds intriguing. I'm wondering if I can order this online, because I don't think my grocery store carries it. It appears I have to order it by the case, however. Hmmm ... that's a lot of pumpkin tea. Maybe I could find some recipes for that, too. :)

And while we're on the topic of pumpkins and spice, ever since Jennifer mentioned making her first cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee the other day I've had it in my mind to try some. At first I could not find any such coffee, so what I bought instead was some of that International Coffees Pumpkin Pie Spice non-dairy creamer. It's not too bad, but it might be better a la mode. Last night, just after finding the eggnog, I came across some Green Mountain Coffee Pumpkin Spice blend. I'll let you know how it tastes. :)

Getting back to tea, Celestial Seasonings makes three delicious Christmas-y teas that we stock up on each year - Nutcracker Sweet, Sugar Plum Spice and our all-time favorite Gingerbread Spice. Oh and be still my holiday heart - there are a few new flavors this year! I can hardly wait to try Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride! (Can't you just hear that music playing in the background? Can't you just see the afternoon of cookie decorating unfolding?) :) And I'm getting ahead of myself, but how about sipping some Candy Cane tea (with a dollop of of chocolate, perhaps) while reading a special book together?

You really can plan all kinds of fun children's parties and projects around all these teas. They're so festive and fun! (I am hoping to do a post for O Night Divine on this very topic, in fact.)

And finally! Since we talked about Constant Comment (that delicous spiced-orange tea) the other day, I have to link to this these Constant Comment Muffins! Yum!

O.K., I think that's all for the beverage report today, LOL! But, whether it's hot tea, coffee or cider (or a cold glass of pumpkin eggnog!) I hope you find the time to make yourself some and sit for a while. For as much as we love sharing tea with our children, it's so nice to find a few minutes to ourselves - to flip through a magazine, read a good book, remember our blessings or just sit and dream about all the fun we'll have these next few months.

Thanks for joining me - have a great night!