Cocktail of the Month: Pina Colada

If you think last month's cocktail sounded too complicated to try (it really isn't!), then you will love this one. No rocket science here, nor no recreation of the wheel. Just simple yumminess.

There are only three things in a proper pina colada: rum, coconut, and pineapple.  

Most recipes favor pineapple juice, but I find this too sweet.  I decided to use pureed, fresh pineapple and loved the result.  (I did not strain the puree, so technically this is a pina non colada, or something like that.)

For the coconut, you are looking for "cream of coconut." Not coconut juice or coconut milk or coconut cream.  Rather than scouring the Thai or Indian or Ethnic aisle of your grocery store, head to the "mixers" section instead, where the margarita mixes and such are.  There you should find several cream of coconut options, none of which (I am sorry to say) are low-cal or low-fat.  At least fat derived from coconuts is a relatively healthy fat... But I digress.  I opted for a brand with a squeeze bottle so that storing leftovers would be easy. (It is.)

I've used both dark rum and golden rum recently. I'm sure light rum would also be just smashing.

Finally, I did use my margarita blender for these, which is a fancy blender that first shaves the ice before blending it in with whatever you have in your blender. I highly recommend shaved ice for a pina colada, but if you don't have a way to shave your ice, you can easily use a regular blender, or even just shake your ingredients and serve on the rocks. The cocktail is so yummy that you needn't hold back on trying it due to lack of shaved ice.

Pina Colada

Makes 1 large serving

1 cup fresh pineapple, finely diced

2 oz. cream of coconut

1.5 oz. rum

Place the pineapple, cream of coconut, and rum in the blender. Fill the hopper on your ice shaver with ice, make sure your settings are for one serving, and let 'er rip.  (If you are using a standard blender, my guess is that you would be need about 1 cup of ice. You might need to play with it to get the correct proportions.)

Can easily be made virgin style (which I did for Madelyn and Jillson) simply by substituting something else for the rum. Any juice or water would be fine; I happened to use milk. Jillson loved it; Madelyn prefers her fresh pineapple unadulterated.

I think pina coladas are a great choice for the dead of winter, providing a sweet, little, tropical escape in a glass. Ahhhhhhhh!