Okay, to cheer up the team in Chicago, here is a traditional Puerto Rican drink recipe that’s done during the holidays. Think of it as an islander’s Egg Nog.
Coquito
Ingredients
2 cans (14oz each) Condensed Milk (“Leche Aguila”)
2 cans (12oz each) Evaporated Milk (Lowfat 2%)
2 cans (14oz each) Coconut Milk (“Leche de Coco”)
2 cans (15oz each) Cream of Coconut (“Crema de Coco”)
1 bag (16 oz) frozen Strawberries (defrosted, a bit frozen won’t hurt)
Vanilla (to taste, about a tablespoon)
Cinnamon (to taste, about a tablespoon)
2 cups (to taste–optional) Rum (White/Clear Bacardi is best)
Tools
Big bowl, blender, whisk (spoon will do), clean storage container (ex. an empty gallon juice container, washed out), a measuring cup.
This recipe makes about a gallon and can easily be divided or multiplied, depending on how much you need.
Get a big bowl. Put in the Condensed Milk, Evaporated Milk, Coconut Milk, and Cream of Coconut. Whisk around a bit to combine. (Helpful hint: Condensed Milk is very thick, scoop it out with a spoon, and use some of the other liquids to get the rest out of the can.)
Put half the bag of Strawberries into the blender and blend them (on the “high” setting) for about 30 seconds, or until they are chopped into little bits. Pour the resulting puree into the big bowl of milky goodness. Do the same with the other half of the bag. (If you have a big powerful blender, you can do this all in one step. I need to do it in batches.) Whisk around a bit to combine.
Now add some Vanilla and Cinnamon to your bowl full of Milk / Coconut / Strawberries. Whisk the mixture some more and give it a taste. Add more if you want.
At this point, some people add nutmeg. Some add egg yolk. Some star anise. Some a bit of salt. I stay away from all that stuff, but feel free to experiment.
Okay, now decide if you want to booze things up. If you have kids, take some of your milky mixture and skip over the next step (adding the rum). That will be for the kiddies. Take the rest of the mixture and add the booze (below) for mom & dad.
Next, pour in about a cup of Bacardi Rum. Give it a taste. Need more? Add more! I’ve found that about 1/2 a 750 ml bottle does the trick. Be careful! The sweet mixture hides the booze (especially rum) pretty well–it’s often stronger than you think.
Okay, now that the booze has been added (or not), use your measuring cup (or just a cup, or whatever) to pour some of the mixture back into the blender. Do NOT overfill your bender, or you’ll get sweet boozy milk all over your kitchen! About 3/4 full should do. Put the cap on TIGHT and blend for about 20 seconds. Pour the blended mixture into your cleaned out plastic container. Use a funnel if you are a klutz like me. Repeat this blending/pouring process until you are all out of liquid. (If you made a “virgin” batch and an “adult” batch, make sure not to mix them up, or you’ll have drunken children to worry about. You have been warned!)
Put your container full of milky goodness into the fridge and let it cool down. It’s probably cool enough to drink right away (because of the frozen strawberries), but a little ice may be needed if you want to start guzzling immediately. It gets better after a couple of days (letting the flavors mingle) and stays good throughout the holiday season (2-3 weeks).
Coquito is best drunk cold, with good friends, out of small “aperitif” glasses. I try not to be too much of a food snob, so plastic cups are also acceptable
The only problem we had was that the phone number they gave us was different than that on the card. After a couple of calls, we got it resolved. I gotta say, they did a good job in getting things resolved quickly. (Remember, this is the island where it takes a better part of a month just to get a regular phone line.) I’ll keep you posted on how the service is. For now, something is better than nothing, that’s for sure.
