Vegan Coquito Eggnog
A Coconut Cuban Festive Holiday Drink
This Vegan Coquito Eggnog with Spiced Dark Rum is a rich, thick, delicious eggnog alternative surprise. It is full of sweetened condensed coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut milk, almond milk, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Of course if desired some spiced dark rum. Decorate the rim with shredded coconut bits to look like a beautiful snow top. Garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg and a cinnamon stick and presto! You have a stunning delectable Holiday drink everyone will love. Make sure to make enough. This recipe makes 4 to 5 drinks so double it up if you are having a crowd.
Some History On Cuban Coquito Eggnog
Turns out this tasty little gem of a version of a Holiday eggnog goes back to many different countries. Germany knows it as the Eierlikor, lait de poule in France, advocaat in the Netherlands and egg-hot or egg flip in England, rompope in Mexico and coquito or “Little Coconut” the coconut enhanced version in Cuban. Some people believe that coquito was brought to the Caribbean by the Spanish during Puerto Rico’s colonial period. They took their version of eggnog and mixed it with the local rum.
Not sure if the local rum is a liquor most people could handle. It’s called Pitorro and it’s way stronger then commercial rum. It can be tested in surpassing 100 proof. It is made in large distilled vessels called the hooch made of molasses or sugar cane with a lot of fruit. It’s then buried under ground left to ferment for an undetermined amount of time. Yicks!
Today it is unknown really how the recipe began, just lots of stories. The first coquito drink was believed to have been made in the 1900’s. Although, some say a version of the recipe I have here today was created in the 1950’s when condensed milk was introduced to Puerto Rico. It’s real popularity soared in the 70’s. Coquito is having some serious turned heads in recognition today. With a couple of adjustments in different recipes it is a knockout winner in substitution for traditional egg recipe eggnogs. Thank you Cuba for this delicious creation!
What Is Vegan Coquito Eggnog Made With
Before you start make sure you have a scraper to use on the cans of cream and milk used for this recipe. There is a lot of cream stuck to the cans. It is easy to waste a lot left in them.
You will need Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk for this recipe and it is not always easy to find. You can get this brand on Amazon through my link. Some grocery stores have it but not many.
The rest of the ingredients are very easy to find. Most of the cream of coconut, canned coconut milk, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, vanilla extract, nutmeg and ground cinnamon can be found in local grocery stores. If you can’t find the cream of coconut, your option can be to use the same amount of canned coconut milk. It won’t be as thick but still taste good. Of course the rum will be at your local liquor store. We’ll talk about the type of rum latter.
How To Make Vegan Coquito Eggnog
Really all you will need for this recipe is a good blender. I use my Ninja BL770 Kitchen System for this. It’s a strong blender and whips this drink up really nice without hard chunks of coconut cream. Thats what you want is for the drink to be very well blended.
This recipe is so easy just put all the ingredients including the spiced dark rum (if you are using it) in and blender and blend for 3 to 4 minutes. Put it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours to chill and blend it again before serving.
How To Decorate The Shredded Coconut Rim Of The Coquito Glass
Before serving the Vegan Coquito Eggnog you can decorate your rim of your glass. I use agave syrup or brown rice syrup to rim the glass but some people use honey. One issue with agave is that it will start to run down the side of the glass. So do this rim decoration right before serving and your guest can eat it off as the drink.
Take your glass and dip it or rub agave or brown rice syrup around the edge of the glass. Then in a small bowl put enough small shredded coconut in so that the glass can be pushed in enough to cover the rim of the glass. You may have to roll the coconut on gently.
After you pour the Vegan Coquito Eggnog garnish your drink. Top with a sprinkle of nutmeg and a stick of cinnamon inside the drink. It’s ready to serve.
What Rum To Use
There are a variety of rums you can use for this drink. My favorite is the Dark Spiced Rum. You can also blend them. You could use half Spiced Dark Rum and Half Coconut Rum or 1/3 White Rum, 1/3 Coconut Rum and 1/3 Spiced Dark Rum. Its all up to you in your preference of taste in what suits you and your guests.
- Spiced Dark Rum
- Black Strap Rum
- Coconut Rum
- White Rum
How To Store Vegan Coquito Eggnog
This delicious Holiday drink can be stored in the refrigerator in an air tight glass container or glass bottle for up to 4 to 8 weeks. If the ingredients are fresh and rum is added the coquito will last for that amount of time. If it smells or taste sour it has gone bad.
I hope you love this Holiday version of eggnog as much as we do. Enjoy!
Vegan Coquito Eggnog
Equipment
- 1 Blender
- 1 Scraper
- 1 Can opener
- 1 Small bowl
- 1 Set of measuring cups
- 1 Set of measuring spoons
Ingredients
Vegan Coquito Eggnog
- 1 13.5oz can Canned Coconut Milk
- 2) 7.4oz cans Condensed Coconut Milk
- 1 13.5oz can Cream of Coconut or 2 small cans
- ½ cup Unsweetened Vanilla or Plan Almond Milk
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Nutmeg
- 1 cup Spiced Dark Rum
Instructions
Vegan Coquito Eggnog
- In a blender add all the ingredients including the rum if you are using it and blend for 3 to 4 minutes on high.
- Put in the refrigerator to chill for 3 to 4 hours
- Right before serving rim your cups with agave syrup or brown rice syrup and shredded fine coconut.
- Blend the Vegan Coquito Eggnog right before serving and pour into prepared festive glasses with rimmed coconut. Makes 4 to 5 servings