I love eggnog. I'm not particular, either: whether it comes out of a seasonally decorated carton from the store or is freshly made from scratch, it's all good. To me, that sweet nutmeg flavor and creamy custard is the taste of the holiday season.

When there's eggnog in the house, I use it however, whenever, I can. And that includes cooking with it. So if you're used to just drinking eggnog straight (or laced with some bourbon or brandy or rum), live it up. It's a short season.

Turn your coffee (or tea) into something decadent

Christmas morning coffee should be something special. For me, that means a generous pour of eggnog in my cup. Heck, you can even add a bit of booze if you want. It is Christmas after all.

An afternoon cup of Earl Grey tea is even better with a splash of eggnog in it. For the kids, you could go all out and make the most decadent hot chocolate with eggnog: just melt some semisweet chocolate into it and you're good to go.

Pour it over your morning porridge or oatmeal

This is my favorite way to make my holiday season mornings more delicious. Instead of pouring my usual whole milk over my oatmeal, I go for the eggnog instead. Bonus: there's no need to add any kind of sweetener.

Make ice cream

Eggnog is not so far off from an ice cream base, so just pour it into your ice cream maker and churn it into ice cream. The thicker your eggnog, the better.

Make French toast or bread pudding

The eggs and the milk are already mixed together in eggnog! So just soak your bread and you're ready to fry it into French toast. If you're working with a thinner eggnog, you may want to whisk in an additional raw egg before you soak your bread. Or make bread pudding by filling a baking dish with bread, covering it in eggnog, then baking it until set.

Substitute it for Buttermilk

For sweeter, richer, spiced pancakes or waffles, use eggnog instead of buttermilk in any recipe. This also works for coffee cake—though you may want to cut back on the sugar in your coffee cake recipe a bit since the eggnog already has a lot of sugar in it.

Make rice pudding

Leftover rice plus eggnog equals the easiest decadent pudding you can make. Just follow my tips for making rice pudding, but use eggnog instead of milk. Yum.

Use it as a dessert sauce

A serving of cake or pie can only be improved by a drizzle of eggnog, right? Right.