# Successful Experiment w/ coquito: Coquito ice cream



## rufustf (Jun 5, 2007)

Usually I'm asking questions around here but I tried something a few weeks ago and it came out rather well so I thought I'd share.

For the holidays I made a bunch of bottles of coquito (a coconut-rum drink from Puerto Rico) as gifts, and had a bunch left over. I mixed it 50/50 with heavy cream and it made a truly fantastic ice cream. 

There were a lot of coquito recipes out there but I wound up making up my own from elements of all the others out there. Apparently "real" coquito does not contain eggs, if it does it's Ponche. Or so says somebody. I left out the eggs for a longer fridge life.

Since it's a holiday thing I'm sure no one will want it any time soon, but I'll post my recipe here anyway in the event anyone wants to give it a go.

1 can coco lopez cream of coconut (15 oz.)
1 can coconut milk (14.5 oz?)
1 can condensed milk (14 oz.)
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz.)
2 cups light rum (Bacardi did just fine)
2 tsp. real vanilla extract
3 cinnamon sticks
about 10 cloves
fresh ground nutmeg

(I'm sure ground spices off the rack are just fine too.)

1. Crush 1 cinnamon stick & toast with the cloves in a dry pan until fragrant. Grind into powder. Grind some nutmeg into the mix, to taste.
2. Boil 1 cup of water with the other two cinnamon sticks. Reduce to 1/3 cup.
3. Blent together the cream of coconut, coconut milk, condensed milk, cinnamon water, vanilla, & ground spices. This is all my blender would hold.
4. In a large pitcher, pour in the evaporated milk & the rum. Add the mix from the blender.
5. Since this is more than enough for two gift bottles, chuck each leftover cinnamon stick into a bottle & fill. Chill them in the fridge.
6. You'll have extra, but it's not chilled. Fill a glass with ice and toast yourself repeatedly for doing such a nice job of it.

Anyway, I thought I'd try to give back to the forum as it's been so helpful in the past, and apparently it was void of coquito information. And the ice cream really kicks @$$.


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## suzanne (May 26, 2001)

That sounds killer! :thumb:

Does it freeze normally, or does the alcohol interfere? Any hints on freezing?


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## chalkdust (Feb 18, 2009)

wonderful idea. egg nog ice cream from briers used to be a favorite of mine

This is practically identical to Haitian kremas. no eggs, coconut milk, coconut cream, evaporated milk, spices, lime juice and rum (barbancourt)

jamaica does a version with no coconut and eggs. its egg nog made with condensed milk and jamaican rum, no lime juice. they serve it warm

trinidad has one with both the eggs and the coconut (and angustora bitters). punch de creme

u can blend in cooked sweet caribbean pumpkin (sweet potatos work for us in the states) and it becomes pump de creme.


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## rufustf (Jun 5, 2007)

Oh good. Somebody cares!

I'll have to try some of those variations posted by chalkdust.

Now about the freezing,.......

My first experiment was to just dump it in the ice cream maker, since coconut milk will behave a lot like cream and milk in an ice cream maker (my friend who can't have dairy is a big fan of coconut milk ice "cream").

As it turns out there is either too much alcohol and/or other stuff in the coquito that won't do the right thing in the ice cream maker to make much more than a thin slush. 

So, I figured that a 50/50 mix of heavy cream/coquito would be enough to freeze properly and not dilute the taste. Worked great.

Most ice cream makers for home use produce a "soft serve" texture so it's best to get it into another freezer friendly container when the machine is finished. The next day it was fine, and there was no separation or bits of coconut rising to the top. The ice cream maker instructions say 20-25 min, I let it go a bit over 25 min. For some odd reason, the ice cream stuck to the plastic blades was the best bit.


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## chalkdust (Feb 18, 2009)

leave the spirits out...

try blending the rum into the ice cream later for a kind of soft serve, or spoon some rum over it when serving?

coquito and kremas are for sure my faves

i have to be in the mood to put the eggs in.


u can also do a trinidad pumpkin punch which is just evaporated milk, cooked pumpkin(or sweet potato), sweetener, regular milk (or coconut milk) spices and bitters if desired. then blend

actually kind of healthy.


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