Coquito - Puerto Rican Coconut Eggnog

A delicious Puerto Rican treat traditionally made around Christmas and the New Year, coquito is a coconut-and-dairy-based sweet drink with rum, cinnamon and (in this recipe!) egg yolks. The eggs are friction-cooked with a high-speed blender, but instructions are given for a stove top tempering method as well.

Coquito is easy to adapt to your own desired level of sweetness, and can easily be made without the rum for kids and those who abstain from drinking.

Because the egg yolks are cooked, this coquito will keep well in the fridge for at least a week.

Course Cocktails, Dessert

Cuisine Caribbean, Puerto Rican

Keyword coquito with cooked eggs, coquito with eggs

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 5

Chilling Time 8

Total Time 8 15

Servings servings

Calories 286kcal

Ingredients

4 large egg yolks
3.25 cups coconut milk (preferably high-fat content)
1.25 cups sugar (see notes 1 & 2)
10 oz sweetened condensed milk (~1.25 cups)
12 oz evaporated milk (~1.5 cups)
1 tsp cinnamon freshly ground, plus more to garnish
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup rum or to taste (see note 3)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

High-Speed Blender Instructions

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.
Allow coquito to cool somewhat, then add the rum as shown above, or to taste. (See note 3 below if omitting rum). Chill overnight. Serve cold, garnished with a little cinnamon or nutmeg, if you like.

Stove Top Tempered Instructions

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.
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.
Combine the tempered mixture with the remaining coquito ingredients, minus the rum, in a blender or food processor. Blend until well combined.
Add the rum as shown above, or to taste. (See note 3 below if omitting rum). Chill overnight. Serve cold, garnished with a little cinnamon or nutmeg, if you like.

Notes

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

Nutrition