Coquito means “Little Coconut” in Spanish and is a traditional Christmas drink recipe that originated in Puerto Rico. The coconut-based alcoholic beverage is similar to eggnog and is sometimes being called the Puerto Rican Eggnog.
This drink is the sassy Puerto Rican sister of eggnog. A delicious tropical flair that’s a creamy and rich drink!
Puerto Rican Coquito
It's Christmas time and time for Coquito! The traditional drink in Puerto Rico is the Coquito, a rich creamy coconut, and rum drink.
Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
- 24 oz evaporated milk 2 – 12 oz cans
- 14 oz sweet condensed milk 1 – 14 oz cans
- 15 oz cream of coconut 1 – 15 oz cans
- 27 13.5 oz coconut milk 2 – 13.5 oz cans
- ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Cinnamon sticks for garnish
- 2 cups Barcardi white Rum.
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients together in a blender, minus the cinnamon sticks, which we save until the end to add to the bottles or glass.
- Chill overnight, for better results or start right away. I think I’ll have it right away!
Notes
To make a non-alcoholic version substitute coconut milk for the rum and add rum extract to taste.
According to Wikipedia, the traditional Christmas drink, Coquito, was originally found in Puerto Rico. However, drinks similar to Coquito can be found all throughout the Caribbean.
There are two different theories about the origin of the drink.
- Some believe the person who created Coquito is unknown along with how the recipe began.
- Others say that the Puerto Rican drink was brought to the Caribbean by the Spanish during Puerto Rico’s colonial period. The Spanish took their version of “eggnog” and combined it with the local rum creating Coquito. As they continued to travel and settle in other areas the drink followed them creating different variations around the Caribbean. The variations are very similar to what they considered the original recipe: milk, sugar. Although this was seen as the original ingredient, Puerto Rico altered it by adding coconut.
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