Coquito (Creamy Puerto Rican Spiced Coconut Drink)

Christmas in Puerto Rico isn’t complete without some bottles of coquito to go around. Often referred to as “Puerto Rican eggnog,” coquito combines that holiday drink’s flavors of rich cream and warm spices with tropical flavors like coconut and rum (if you want to spike the drink, that is).

There are may ways to make coquito. The easiest requires little more than blending coconut milk, cream of coconut, evaporated milk, and condensed milk along with spices like ground cinnamon until frothy; add some rum, chill it in the fridge, and it’s ready to go.

This version is just a tiny bit more involved, but pays off with layers of flavor. First, we create a spiced “tea” by steeping the evaporated milk with a whole cinnamon stick, cloves, and slices of ginger. Those solidls get strained out and then blended with the other ingredients—although we leave out the cream of coconut, which we find makes an extremely sweet drink (if that sweetness and more punched up coconut flavor is to your taste, though, we won’t fault you for slipping a can of cream of coconut in).

The final step in our recipe is an optional one, which is to also blend in egg yolks, for a richer, creamier drink. This isn’t something you see in a lot of modern blender-only coquito recipes today, but it isn’t untraditional. Add them if you like, or leave them out. Up to you.

Same goes for the rum. Coquito is delicious with or without it, though we find the smooth bite of alcohol helps balance the flavors out well.

December 2011