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This year, when faced with the necessity of making my holiday favorites more friendly to my blood sugar, I finally got up the gumption to make my own eggnog. And I took it one step beyond just substituting a low carb sweetener for the sugar. A lot of diabetics find the lactose in milk raises their blood sugar levels. I myself can drink it in small quantities but I decided to experiment anyway, as almond milk has become a low carb staple in my pantry. It’s wonderful stuff in its own right, much tastier than soy milk, and is a great replacement for milk when baking and cooking. So I simply followed the eggnog recipe in my America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, swapped almond milk for milk and erythritol and stevia for sugar, and hoped for the best low carb almond milk eggnog possible.

The Results: Bottoms up! I am thrilled to discover that eggnog made with almond milk tastes just like the regular kind. It was wonderfully thick and rich, and there wasn’t a hint of almond flavor. With a little whiskey or rum, and the traditional sprinkling of nutmeg, it’s a perfect low carb treat with which to ring in the holidays. Or have it alcohol-free as a breakfast or brunch treat. My only complaint is that the recipe said it made 10-12 servings and it was more like 8 servings.

I decided to make my low carb almond milk eggnog with the whipped cream that the traditional recipe calls for, to make a really rich eggnog, but if you wanted to go dairy-free, you could add in more almond milk after the custard is chilled. The custard itself was incredibly thick, so you would want to add something to thin it out a bit and make it more drinkable.

If you want to make this with almond milk but use regular sugar, you can sub in 1/2 cup sugar where I’ve put in erythritol, and omit the stevia extract. Just remember, if you do that, it won’t be low carb almond milk eggnog!