Recipe Description
In my Christmas cocktail journey, I realized that Christmas flavors are often derived from Caribbean spices. I’m thinking this might be because spices were expensive back in the day, and the only time simple folk like the Cratchits tasted such exotica would be at Christmastime. So for me, Velvet Falernum and St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram take me back to Victorian England rather than memories of a Caribbean vacation. So it was no surprise to find this “holiday tiki cocktail” full of just those great liqueurs.
The original recipe, from Good Food Stories, is called The Christmas Island, which sounds like just what I was looking for in searching for “Christmas Tiki drink,” although Christmas Island is in the Indian Ocean, Tiki hails from Polynesia in the Pacific, and the liqueurs are straight up Caribbean–the Atlantic. I am a bit of a Tiki purist but I tried the recipe anyway.
I had to doctor it up by doubling the rum, including unleashing the Kraken, but I think I did a good job of it. Ricardio thought so anyway 🙂
Here’s my modified recipe for two cocktails.
Ingredients
-
1 cup coconut milk
This stuff can be actually SOLID! Maybe go with the "light." - 1 cup pineapple juice
-
6 ounces coconut rum
I love Koloa. Malibu is okay too, but Captain Morgans is one-dimensional. -
2 ounces spiced rum
Unleash the Kraken! -
2 ounces allspice dram
also called pimento dram, weirdly -
2 ounces falernum
Velvet Falernum to be precise!
Preparation
I happen to have Polynesian Pearl Diver glasses, which are perfect. But since we’re blending this with ice, use whatever you’d put a frozen margarita in.
Put the glasses in the freezer.
Put all ingredients and a couple of handsful of ice in a blender.
Blend it up.
*The original recipe said you could mix this in a Boston shaker and serve it over crushed ice. That would be WAY better, however, I only had full fat coconut milk which was literally solid when I uncanned it, and I didn’t have crushed ice. (Who does?) So I blended it. If you can do it with a shaker, more power to you!!
Service
Take the glasses out of the freezer, pour and serve.
For best results, drink it through a straw!
