Every year at Christmas, everyone in my family makes a big batch of some drink for Christmas Day. I usually make a homemade egg nog loaded to the gills with brandy or spiced rum, but my sister-in-law wants to try her hand at it this year, so I have to go elsewhere. I was going to take the easy way out with martinis, but I wanted to do something more traditional.

I see these hot buttered rum recipes, but I can't decide if I think it will taste good or awful. Anyone care to weigh in?

Tastes very good. It brings together two things that I love butter and rum. yum.

If you're ever in Orlando, check out the north end of Orange Blossom Trail and the Pine Hills/Pine Castle area. If you hunt long enough, and if you survive, you just might find the elusive Clyde.

Do you know how to make it? I see some recipes that call for vanilla ice cream, some that call for apple cider, some that call strictly for spices, butter, rum, and hot water. Not sure which is best.

What's best is going to depend on the tastes of your family. The version I had was spices, butter, rum, and hot water. I've never had it in just a family setting, it was always after skiing so half of what made it so good was that it warmed you up.

If you think the spices might be too overpowering then use less and more apple cider. If you use ice cream it's going to sweeten it a lot more than if you use butter, etc.

Let's get an expert in on this because I too would like a hot buttered rum. Is a hot toddy a hot buttered rum?

Isn't a hot toddy a whiskey drink (whiskey, lemon, honey)?

A hot toddy uses whiskey, brandy, sugar, spices, and hot water.

This hot buttered rum sounds pretty good. I'd like to learn more. What is the butter to rum content ratio? I feel a little weird drinking butter.

I make this every year, and every year there are no leftovers and I remember how good it is:

Colonial Hot Buttered Rum

2 c. firmly-packed brown sugar
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
1 pinch salt
3 sticks cinnamon
6 cloves (I usually add more)
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 cups rum
Whipped cream, ground nutmeg (topping)

Put all ingredients (except rum and topping) in crock pot and add 2 quarts of water. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Set crock on low for 5 hours, add rum, stirring to blend and serve from the pot with a scoop of freshly-whipped cream on top.

This recipe looks pretty good, although I'm not as much of a cloves fan as you.

It is good - and easy, and the house will smell like the buttery/sugary/cinnamony goodness while it steeps. Of course in a pinch I've made it on high for like 2 hours, but it's nice to make early in the day and drink at night.

FYI I use Myers's Rum for this and not once have I less than 2.5 - 3 cups of rum (2 cups is just what the recipe calls for)

That was going to be my question. Can you add more Rum and kick it up? I am so going to do this for the holidays this year.

Also, do you leave the lid off the Crock Pot so that the concoction cooks down and thickens?

Trust me -- you don't need to reduce it ... just add the extra rum and it's "thick" enough on its own with the butter/sugar/etc.

I am thinking this year I might add some vanilla bean at the end to make it extra good.

Man, my mouth is watering for some now! MMMMM!!!!

Thanks for the quick response. I'm making this over the holidays.....

Thanks, MEH !

I saw a number of recipes that involve softening vanilla ice cream and folding it into the butter/sugar/spice mixture, freezing it until ready, then simply adding 2-3 T of the mix to a mug, adding a shot of rum, and filling with hot water. Sounds like that would taste a lot like your recipe plus vanilla bean, no?

I'm taking a lot of vacation around the holidays this year. I'll be trying out several of these holiday drinks. I'm to lazy to start another thread so can someone post egg nog recipes here?

Oh yeah it does seem similar, but it might cool it too much and I wonder if it'd have the same "richness" because the spices won't have steeped very long in the hot water. And if you have to buy ice cream, it's an extra ingredient (I like the whipped cream on top).

You could probably do the same thing by just cooking the water/sugar/butter/spices on top of the stove for faster results, but the ease of the crock pot is priceless.

I am tellin' ya, I've used mine for the past 5 years and it's always been a hit and it's so easy I can't imagine changing it.

The only reason I think that vanilla bean would be is that I have about a million of them in my fridge from Costco and just love fresh vanilla.

You sold me. Moms has a crockpot at her house, I'm going to use your recipe.

Be prepared, though, it may lead to a drunken PM at midnight to tell you how good it was....

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I have used this exact recipe. I found it a couple of years ago on Allrecipes.com and it is absolutely divine.

OK, this is the ticket. All the babes think it's good. Any chance you and MEH want to swing by Casa de EG and show me how to make this?

Mrs. D, you down? I'm there!

I used to tend bar at this nice-ish restaraunt that offered a "special" on hot buttered rum through the month of December. I used to fill a mug halfway full with recently boiling water, add a shot and a half of rum and a packet of "Hot Buttered Rum" mix. I mixed it together and the customers raved about it.

MEH, how many people does this serve usually?

I gained 3 lbs and woke up hungover just by reading this thread.

5-6, depending on how much each person drinks, really. I'd estimate 5-6 could have one (small) cup with a few having seconds. It's pretty rich though, so some people only want one cup ... and we usually have something else on hand (red wine, etc.).

It would depend how much you drink. Looking at the recipe, I'd say this makes about 2 quarts of HBR, so for me, that would serve 1.

bump

Appropriately marked for Christmas Eve goodness.

Sounds like a perfect concoction for a cold winter's night ...

That recipe sounds great, I've never made it before as I've only had it at the lodge after skiing. A drink I grew up with at the holidays but haven't found a good recipe for as well is Tom and Jerry batter. I've found a mix here a while back but it wasn't anything like what I had growing up.

As far as eggnog is concerned, I'd love to hear some recipes on that if anyone has a good one as I could live on that stuff this time of year.

I'm going to go all Scupper at xmas this year. Make some of this stuff, put on a nice smoking jacket and listen to some Bing Crosby while sitting by the fire.

I've never heard of this drink, but it sounds excellent. I may have to whip up a batch for Christmas Eve. Is it as easy as it seems, or would you recommend a trial run before the holiday?

There is a band called 'Hot Buttered Rum String Band'.

They give out free cups during the show! Yummm

I have everything needed there to make this, now want to try it, but all I have is some crappy white rum here (no idea why) -- guess it wouldn't be worth the time, eh?

Just printed this recipe out...

Question: We are having 10 people over for dinner on the Sat. after Turkey Day; 2 cups doesn't seem like that much; how many mugs does on batch yeild?

Sounds very good; thinking of at least doubling up....

Uh...no...but my ladyfriend did have a shot or two last weekend.

Great drink for a fishing cabin.

There are 4 cups in a quart, so with 2 quarts of water and 2 cups of rum, this should be 10 cups. The rest depends on your serving size.

I started a batch of HBR this morning at 10:30 and will start enjoying it's sweet goodness in about 1.5 hours!

I'm having one right now, thanks to this thread. Just some fast recipe I found online, but it works. I didn't have any cloves so I substituted some chinese five spice (I'm almost sure this is a felony in most states, but I'll be dipped in #### if I go to the store today).

Took my first sip ever of Hot Buttered Rum about 5 minutes ago. Very yummy! Now I have a decision to make - do I finish 10 cups of this stuff tonight or is there a way to preserve it for later consumption?

This totally went over my head....what joke am I missing here?