Hot Buttered Rum | Perfect Holiday Drink

For those of you who aren't a fan of eggnog I highly recommend trying out a hot buttered rum. Traditionally made by mixing butter, sugar, and a whole bunch of spice, there are many different versions of this classic drink. The best ones should be creamy and rich with flavors of vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. My version uses ice cream for a fool proof recipe that is super simple to throw together and extra creamy. Keep reading to see how to make single serving drinks, scaling for a party, and how to gift hot buttered rum to your friends and family!

Jump to:

• Making the Batter
• By the Glass
• Feeding a Crowd
• Dairy Free or Sugar Free?
• A Quick and Easy Christmas Gift
• Recipe
• Reviews

Making the Batter

The best part about this recipe is that it is SO easy. It's basically mixing and melting a bunch of ingredients together and then freezing. Start off by melting the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Continuously stirring, add in the brown sugar and powdered sugar until well combined. Next add in the ice cream, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg and mix it all up until it's combined! Keep in the freezer for up to 3 months for on demand hot buttered rums.

If you're a frequent zester, you know that I always recommend using ingredients that you like and this is no exception. You're going to have to make some ingredient choices here and you should use ones you like and likely have on hand. The ice cream you use should be the same one you'd put on a piece of pie. Use one that you would want to eat on its own since it contributes a huge part of the flavor of the hot buttered rum. The ice cream also makes the batter super creamy without a lot of effort on your part so high quality ice cream is better.

Another choice to make is light brown sugar vs dark brown sugar. Brown sugar is just molasses and sugar combined so dark brown sugar just has more of a molasses flavor than light brown. I used half and half for mine purely because I was at the end of my dark brown sugar, but I typically use dark brown for a richer flavor.

By the Glass

Now my favorite part of this recipe is that you can make a single serving at a time. This recipe is meant for quarantine times because you don't need to make a drink four hot buttered rums at once. The recipe for 1 is simple! In a mug add 1 shot of spiced rum, 1 heaping spoonful of buttered rum batter, and ½ a cup of hot or boiling water. You can definitely use any kind of rum or use more or less than half a cup of water. Those are just my preferred ratios and I feel like spiced rum adds a lot more flavor than standard rum. And yes, I did do a taste test of golden dark rum and clear rum just to see what my favorite was!

Do you know what else is awesome? Hot buttered rum coffees. Replace the hot water with coffee. With or without the rum, it's an AMAZING treat for all the coffee lovers out there.

Feeding a Crowd

Heading to a holiday party? No need to stand in the corner and make one hot buttered rum at a time (unless you're trying to avoid being too social). Get out your crock pot and set it to low! Add ½ a batch of the batter, 1 liter of spiced rum, and fill the rest up with water. I recommend tasting this and adjusting before you call it good since there are many different sizes of crockpots. I usually start off with about half of what I think I need and then start adding, mixing and tasting. Hard job right? I haven't made a full batch since last year, but for 2021 I will do some testing and update on the exact right quantities. For 2020 you probably just need the single serving instructions!

Dairy Free or Sugar Free?

For those you poor souls who cannot have dairy, try out your favorite non-dairy ice cream! I have a few local shops in Seattle who make INCREDIBLE non-dairy ice cream. My favorite is Frankie and Jo's date shake ice cream. It's phenomenal, it's perfect for this mix, and they ship!

If you're going for sugar free, besides getting a sugar free ice cream (like the above mentioned date shake), try out monk fruit! They have all sorts of varieties and can be replaced 1:1 with normal sugar. I cannot tell the difference between regular sugar and monk fruit, except for a bit less sweetness! It's also great for a keto hot buttered rum! You can find the brown sugar version here!

A Quick and Easy Christmas Gift

This year since it's just me and my grandma I had SO much leftover buttered rum batter. So we thought, we should gift this magic to some people! So I ordered some 8oz mason jars with chalkboard labels and filled them up with rum and butter mixture! 8oz of rum with 8oz of mix is enough for 6-8 glasses of hot buttered rum. They make a SUPER cute and easy present. My grandma wrote out cards with how to assemble and we are delivering them to several of her friends around town. It's perfect for any last minute holiday gifting and especially if you are wanting to give holiday food for presents.

Even with only a few days left until Christmas, you have PLENTY of time to go to the store and try this out. Trust me, you won't be disappointed and all of your family members will be raving. It's the perfect Christmas Eve treat! I highly recommend serving these with coffee cake as well. It's a great combination! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays all!

Recipe