A Plant-Based Coquito To Make Your Spirits Bright

We have entered the holiday season, and with festivities comes the amazing coconut-y Coquito, or as some may have heard “Puerto Rican Eggnog”. Of course, many Boricuas have their own favorite version of the coquito recipe, passed down by a special family member or dear friend. Nonetheless, all versions are tasty and remind us of Las Navidades in our lovely tropical island.

​For this recipe we normally use multiple dairy-based ingredients, BUT with the accessibility of plant-based ingredients, we can thankfully convert this into a vegan friendly recipe.

What equipment will you need?

​​Only a blender. Don’t have one? What about a hand mixer? Or just a bowl and a whisk and some motivation to build some arm muscle. Plus, a strainer for the tea.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of coconut milk (13.5 oz.) + ½ cup (4 oz) coconut milk at room temp
• 1 can coconut cream (15 oz.)
• 1 can condensed coconut milk (11.25 oz.) (I found the Nature’s Charm brand at Whole Foods/Amazon. You can also make some yourself by boiling some full fat coconut milk + sugar)

• Tea (You will be using a ½ cup of your tea)

For your tea you will need:

1.     1 cup of water
2.     2 cinnamon sticks
3.     6 whole cloves
4.     Fresh ginger slices​

• ½ tbsp vanilla extract*
• ½ tsp ground cloves*
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon*
• ¼ tsp ground ginger*
• ½ cup white rum*

*This is all flavoring to your liking, a tu gusto, so it is all your preference!

• Want it sweeter? More vanilla!
• Spicier? More cloves!
• More of a kick? More alcohol!

Process:

• Start with the tea since you’ll have to let this to cool for a little bit before using. Add in the cinnamon, cloves, ginger to the cup of water and bring to a boil (~10 minutes).
• Strain this to remove the chunks of your ingredients.
• Set that aside for now.
• Shake the cans of your coconut milk, coconut cream, and condensed milk.
• Add your coconut cream and coconut milk to a blender or large bowl if mixing by hand – and blend/mix for a couple seconds.
• Add the ½ cup of strained tea to the can of condensed coconut milk (quickly whirl it in here to get the left over of the condensed milk + flavor), then add to the rest of your ingredients.
• Mix/Blend. Add your ground spices to the ½ cup of white rum, mix it with the alcohol. Add this to your other ingredients.
• Mix/Blend one last time for ~30 seconds and store in fridge for a few hours before serving.

My mom always makes this a few weeks ahead to marinate the flavors a little more, and I would suggest you do the same – haha.

Coquito usually thickens after it chills. So, two things, when you add it into your container, make sure you leave a little room to shake the bottle before serving. And number two, if you find it is too thick, you can re-blend with a little more coconut milk before serving or add some to your individual serving.

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by Shekina G-F
Scientist | Hobbyist Baker | Writer