The Coquito Recipe Debated in Their Family Cookbook

December 2021
By Tita Arroyo
Recipe from Puerto Rico
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Coquito is one of Tita Arroyo’s favorite Christmas traditions, like every Boricua we know. The cold, creamy drink is as essential to Navidad as aguinaldos—the island’s maracas-shake-worthy traditional holiday music—for most Puerto Rican households, which explains why Familia Kitchen is honored to have received so many delicious—and different!—recipes for Puerto Rico’s traditional egg nog-like coconut deliciousness.

”I can remember coquito from the first memories I have of Christmas-time,” says the Chicago-based Tita, a functional-medicine certified coach who founded Life Loves Health Coaching and was named 2021 woman of the year by PINKK, a nonprofit empowering women.

When she was growing up in Puerto Rico, she remembers: ”the family always made it, and there were always different batches, at Abuelo’s, at our house, etc. They always reserved some of the coquito as non-alcoholic so we kids could have some. We always loved being able to pour our own coquito and sprinkle it with cinnamon. And because we only had it during Christmastime, it was always a treat we looked forward to.”

This version of the recipe she has loved since her childhood comes from her abuelo, who is from Lares, Puerto Rico. Hence its name: Tito’s coquito, after his nickname: Tito”—their nombre is another family connection between grandfather and grandaughter. Tita now lives in Chicago and proudly continues to make their coquito for friends and family every year for the holidays.

The Family Coquito Battle—8 Yolks or 4 Whole Eggs?

Below is the family recipe Tita was kind enough to share with Familia Kitchen. Actually, we should say the family recipes—plural—she was kind enough to share. There are two versions, since her dad and mom had a friendly, forever-rivalry about the original receta’s best and most delicioso mix of ingredients.

It’s all captured in the margins of their family cookbook, says Tita. “This coquito is my paternal grandfather’s recipe, which my dad wrote into Mom’s copy of Cocine Conmigo,” the classic Puerto Rican cookbook, a beloved companion to that other Boricua cookbook best-seller, Cocina Criolla.

”I love this recipe because it has been passed down from grandpa to Dad, and the way Dad captured it makes me laugh each time I go to this page in the book. To top it off, my mom later made a note that the recipe is ’Better with 4 eggs’ instead of Abuelo’s original 8 egg yolks,” says Tita.

The best part of the coquito story is how her mom recorded her version, laughs Tita. ”She wrote it all in Spanish except ’Better,’ and since she was not a native English speaker, it cracks me up her note starts with ’Better.’”

So, which versión does taste better?

Tita laughs. ”Last year I made two batches to see if we could determine which is better.”

And?

”They were both equally delicious. Dad and Abuelo get the coquito bragging rights. Mom takes the flan,” says Tita.

What makes her grandfather’s version so extra good, does she think? The use of yolks? Not all coquito recipes call for eggs, after all. Also, their family version does not use brandy or spices beyond the requisite cinnamon.

It’s not about the ingredients, says Tita. Tito’s coquito ”is extra delicious and special because of its coconutty sweetness, yes—but, really, it’s the special memories of all the times spent with the extended family, especially over the holidays,” says Tita. ”My parents and grandparents have all passed several years now, so this recipe and all those memories are the real treasures.”

Tita will soon be making her next big batch of Tito’s Navideño concoction and family holiday memories. ”I just made this recipe for Thanksgiving and I’m already out. I will make the next batch on Christmas Eve while listening to and singing aguinaldos, with one of my sisters.”

Wonder which version they will make?

Which Coquito Recipe Version Do You Think Is Better?