I made my mom's boozy coquito recipe for the first time and it's 10 times better than eggnog (2024)

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Coquito is a staple beverage to have at any Puerto Rican Christmas and looks a bit like eggnog.

The deliciously sweet flavors in coquito mostly come from from cans of condensed, evaporated, and coconut milk.

Although they look really similar, and both use eggs and sugar, eggnog relies on whole milk, cream, and nutmeg for its Christmassy flavorings.

While I've seen eggnog served hot and chilled, coquito is almost always served cold either in a glass with a few cubes of ice or in a small shot glass because it can be quite filling.

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My mom has been making my sisters and I batches of non-spiked coquito since before I can remember, but this year I wanted to give it a go for myself and add in rum.

My mom is from Puerto Rico and since before I can remember she's been making my sisters and I each a bottle of Coquito in the lead-up to Christmas, which we usually spend on the island with our extended family.

She initially started making it without rum when we were younger, which led me to prefer the drink without alcohol. But I recently decided to try making the boozy version of my mom's coquito for a pre-Christmas dinner at a friends house.

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My mom's recipe isn't the most detailed, and there are plenty of others online, but here are the basic ingredients you'll need to make enough coquito to fit inside two wine bottles.

• 6 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• Vanilla extract
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6-8 cloves
• 1 cup of condensed milk
• 1 cup of evaporated milk
• 1 cup of coconut milk
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of white rum

Goya Foods has its own recipe with more specific instructions, but I noticed it doesn't include cloves or cinnamon sticks in its version, which I think adds a whole other level of flavor to the drink.

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I started by cracking and separating the eggs, discarding the whites and popping the yolks into a large bowl.

When I called my mom and told her I wanted to make coquito, she was more than happy to share the recipe with me. That said, her recipe wasn't the most specific so I went a bit rogue deciding where to start.

My first step was cracking the eggs, which was also possibly my least favorite part of the process. To separate the whites, use broken egg shells to tip the yolk back and forth over a sink. Then pop the yolk into a large bowl – emphasis on the large because there's going to be a lot of liquid pouring in over the course of this recipe.

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Next, I added the sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract. I opted to go with soft, light-brown sugar.

Again, mom wasn't exactly clear when it came to the type of sugar to use but I opted to go for a finer, brown kind.

My thought process behind this choice was that I didn't want there to be large chunks of granulated sugar left when everything was blended up.

The following steps were my favorite: Pour in whole cans of evaporated, condensed, and coconut milk.

After adding sugar and egg yolks to a bowl, the next step was to add all the different types of milk. There isn't a particular order to this but be sure to pour out as a much of each can as possible.

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Condensed milk is essentially the nectar of the gods so don't fight the urge to scoop out the leftover bits from the can.

If I'm being honest, I'm a huge fan of condensed milk so probably left a bit more than I could've scooped out as a little mid-cooking treat.

But it's almost Christmas, so why not treat yourself with a spoonful (or two) of the best type of milk out there?

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I then spiked the mixture with a cup of white rum. My mom was vague when it came to this part of the recipe: "One cup, two cups, it's how boozy you want to make it."

I'm pretty used to having coquito without any alchohol – sometimes, if there's too much, it honestly ruins the drink for me so this part really comes down to your preference.

In the end, I opted for one cup of Bacardi's white rum, which was the perfect amount for me not to be overwhelmed with the flavor of alcohol.

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I set the bowl aside to focus on the cinnamon sticks and cloves. My mom's recipe says to boil both with a cup of water.

In retrospect, it may have been better to do this step before the rest because the water would need to be cooled before adding it to the eggy-milky mixture. In any case, I placed two sticks of cinnamon and eight cloves into a saucepan and added a cup of water.

I let it heat up until it was boiling and then reduced the heat.

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You can really smell Christmas once the cloves and cinnamon have boiled. I picked out the sticks and cloves and poured the contents through a sieve. Then, I let it cool to room temperature.

At this point, your kitchen will really start to smell like the holidays. I absolutely loved it.

After the water boils, turn off the heat and pick out the sticks and cloves with a fork. To be extra sure you're not leaving any unwanted chunks of cinnamon or cloves, run the water through a sieve into a jug before setting it aside to cool.

Personal recommendation: While it cools, get in the mood by listening to Christmas music, watching a holiday movie, or pretty much anything you like.

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When the water is cool enough, pour it in with the eggy, milky, rummy mixture and top it off with some ground cinnamon. Then, put the mix through a blender.

Once the cinnamon and clove-flavored water is around room temperature, it's good to go into the rest of the coquito mixture. To really bring out the Christmassy flavor, top off the bowl with a bit of ground cinnamon to taste.

After that, pour your mixture into a blender and let it run through until everything is well incorporated. My own blender was pretty small so I had to do this next step in a few stages.

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And there you have it: coquito! Find yourself a container –following my mom's footsteps, I opted to wash out an old wine bottle.

My mom generally kept our coquito in cleaned-out wine bottles, which were really handy to unscrew again and you could dress it up with a little red Christmas bow if you're taking it to a dinner party.

I had plenty of coquito left over that wouldn't fit into the wine bottle so I ended up keeping some in plastic containers to bring to my sister's place.

Be sure to keep your coquito cool by popping it in the fridge. Because there's raw egg in the recipe, it's best to consume the drink within four days, according to the Miami Herald.

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On Saturday, I brought my coquito to a friend's pre-Christmas dinner party and it's safe to say it was a hit.

Bringing the drink to my friend's place for a pre-Christmas dinner party was the ultimate test of whether I'd made a good batch.

Most people who attended had never had it before so it was interesting to see whether they liked it, which they did. Personally, I was also pretty pleased with the outcome. It tasted just like my mom makes it, but maybe a little less boozy. If I were to change anything next time, I would maybe add a bit more cinnamon on top when serving it.

Ultimately, the coquito was a big hit and some of us joked that we had to keep it hidden in the fridge so it wouldn't run out by the end of the night. That strategy didn't quite work, and the bottle was totally cleaned out after dinner. Luckily for me, I had some leftovers waiting at home.