Milk and Cookies

I heard Santa might be going vegan this year. He's gotta stay healthy too! Thankfully, I've got lots of alternative holiday milks and vegan cookies for him to choose from. Should put me right at the top of that 'Nice' list.

Most of you should be familiar with Silk's Soy Nog. It's been around for awhile. I use this in my eggnog frosting for gingerbread whoopie pies with excellent results. I think that the consistency is perfect; it has that thick, creamy, eggy mouthfeel that you look for in an eggnog (or as close as it can come without any actual cream or eggs). I'm not blown away by the flavor though. I find myself always adding cinnamon or nutmeg, or some holiday cheer to help kick it up a notch. Still, I bet if I left a glass of this with a little nip of bourbon to help keep Santa warm, he wouldn't complain.

This year I discovered Rice Dream's Rice Nog. I'm a big fan of rice milks since I'm always looking to reduce my soy intake. The flavor of this nog was perfect: lots of nutmeg with other spices to round out the taste. As expected, since rice milk is notoriously thin compared to other milks, the consistency was nowhere near your typical egg nog. But I kind of liked that. It was light, and allowed me to drink more than I would normally be able to tolerate with eggnog's usual thick consistency. I'll leave this one out for Mr. Claus in case he needs something lighter and refreshing to wash down that Chocolate Candy Cane whoopie pie I plan on leaving for him.

West Soy makes a Chocolate Peppermint soymilk. I don't keep regular chocolate soymilk in the house anymore, because I drink too much of it. West Soy's beverage combines my two favorite things and is equally dangerous. Creamy, chocolatey, and a hint of peppermint flavor makes this an ideal holiday drink. And you can drink it cold, or warm it up for some hot cocoa action! I think I'll leave a big tall glass with some chocolate chip cookies for the man in red this year.

I heard that VitaSoy also makes a Holly Nog, but I was unable to find it in Philadelphia. Silk also introduced Mint Chocolate soymilk this year, but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. If you've tried either of these drinks, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to whip out my copy of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, and bake up a batch of tasty, cruelty-free cookies for Santa to enjoy.

Merry Christmas!