Coquito – Puerto Rican Coconut Eggnog

16
5 minutes
10 minutes
Recipe developed for BC Egg by Diversivore

Coquito is a classic Puerto Rican holiday drink. Our version is made with eggs (of course), coconut, rum, and a high-speed blender. It’s easy to make, easy to love, and easy to customize to your own tastes.

Ingredients

4 large egg yolks
3.25 cups (750 ml) coconut milk, preferably high fat content (see notes)
1.25 cups (250 g) sugar (see notes)
10 oz (1.25 cups or 300 ml) sweetened condensed milk
12 oz (1.5 cups or 250 ml) evaporated milk
1 tsp cinnamon, plus more to garnish
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of rum (or to taste – see notes)

Instructions

High-Speed Blender Method

  1. Combine all of the ingredients, minus the rum, in a high speed blender (e.g. a Vitamix or Ninja). Blend at the highest setting for 5 minutes.
  2. Allow coquito to cool somewhat, then add the rum as shown above, or to taste. (See notes below if omitting rum). Chill overnight. Serve cold, garnished with a little cinnamon or nutmeg, if you like.

Note that a high-speed blender cooks the eggs through friction, so you can omit the tempering method below. If you’re just using a regular blender, you’ll want to temper the eggs using the Stove Top Method below – see notes.

Stove Top Tempering Method

  1. Heat the coconut milk and sugar in a small pot over medium heat. Bring it to a near-simmer, stirring regularly to prevent scorching and to dissolve the sugar.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Once the coconut milk and sugar mixture is hot (but not boiling), pour it into the eggs a little bit at a time while whisking vigorously. Take care not to pour too fast, or the eggs will cook all at once and scramble. Do not stop whisking until all of the liquid has been added.
  3. Combine the tempered mixture with the remaining coquito ingredients, minus the rum, in a blender or food processor. Blend until well combined.
  4. Add the rum as shown above, or to taste. (See notes below if omitting rum). Chill overnight. Serve cold, garnished with a little cinnamon or nutmeg, if you like.

Notes

Cream of coconut – Unlike many coquito recipes, this one does not call for a cream of coconut like Coco López, as it can be exceptionally hard to find in many markets (including most of Canada). Cream of coconut is a combination of coconut cream and sugar, and is not the same as coconut cream or coconut milk. If you do have cream of coconut, you can substitute a 15 oz (443 ml) can into this recipe by omitting the added sugar along with approximately 1 cup of the coconut milk.

Sugar – Coquito is certainly a sweet drink, but if you want to reduce the sweetness you can cut the sugar considerably. If your tastes run on the dryer side, consider halving the sugar, then adjusting to taste after the rum has been added, as the rum will also cut the overall sweetness
of the finished drink.

Rum – I like to use an aged, golden rum to make coquito, but use any rum you particularly like. Feel free to adjust the rum quantity to taste. Some prefer less than this, while others
prefer a much more rum-centric coquito. While you can simply omit the rum for virgin coquito, you may want to also consider reducing the sugar content somewhat to compensate for the lack of booze. If you want rum flavour without the added alcohol, you can try adding a teaspoon of rum extract.

Eggs – The egg yolks in this recipe are cooked, either by friction in a high speed blender, or by tempering on the stove top. A low-speed blender or food processor will not get hot enough to heat the eggs to a sufficient temperature, and should be used in combination with the stove top tempering method.

Dairy Free Options -You can substitute sweetened condensed coconut milk and evaporated coconut milk for their dairy counterparts.  They’re not always common at the average grocery store, but you will often find them at organic and high-end grocery chains (e.g. Whole Foods).

If you want to reduce the dairy content somewhat but not eliminate it entirely, you can also consider increasing the quantity of coconut milk, and decreasing the canned dairy goods.  Swapping out the evaporated milk is fairly easy, as it’s roughly comparable to a thick coconut milk in terms of consistency – but removing the sweetened condensed milk may take some adjusting to balance the flavour and sweetness.

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