Vegan Puerto Rican Coquito

Hola mi amigos! Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo.

Today I'm sharing with you one of my favorite family holiday recipes, made vegan! Usually during the holidays with my partners' side of the family we have big gatherings and we break out the instruments for parrandas, or Puerto Rican Christmas carols. Tio brings a scratch made batch of coquito, and we sing and drink for hours.

Obviously this year is a little different and we wont be breaking out the güiros, palitos or the maracas and tio wont be bringing us any of his homemade coquito. So until next year, I'll make my own coquito, and share the recipe with you all!

For all my friends who have gotten this far and are still thinking, 'What the $#%! is coquito?!' Let me enlighten you. Coquito, meaning little coconut in Spanish, is a coconut-based alcoholic beverage, sometimes referred to as Puerto Rican Eggnog. It has a mixture of milks, including condensed, evaporated and coconut cream, a mixture of spices and always a dark rum. If you're from Puerto Rico then you know the tradition would be to use Don Q or Bacardi.

To make coquito you don't need much equipment, a blender and something to store the mixture in once combined will suffice. Typically you want the mixture to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but ideally overnight.

My coquito recipe is slightly different than traditional recipes, aside from the vegan ingredients, I add cloves and blend raisins into mine. Experiment with different dried fruits- a small amount of crystalized ginger or cardamom pods would work deliciously in this recipe.

Comment below and let me know what you added to make it your own! Salud!

Vegan Puerto Rican Coquito

Makes: 8 cups

1/4 cup raisins

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed coconut or soy milk

1 (15 oz) can coconut cream

1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk

4 oz evaporated coconut or soy milk

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

5 cloves

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups dark rum, Don Q or Bacardi

Garnish

2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup

4 tablespoons shredded coconut, or cinnamon sugar mixture

Directions:

Place all ingredients, aside from rum, agave, and shredded coconut in the blender. Blend on high speed for 2 minutes, or until thick and creamy.

Add rum and blend just until mixed. Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

When serving, add 2 tablespoons of agave nectar to a small plate, add 4 tablespoons of shredded coconut on another small plate. Rim the glasses you're serving the coquito in by placing the glass upside down on the plate of agave nectar first, coating the rim generously, then pressing the syrup covered rim onto the plate filled with shredded coconut. Pour the cold coquito into the glasses and enjoy!