Make Ahead

Best-Ever Piña Colada

by:
August 13, 2016
5
1 Ratings
Best-Ever Piña Colada
Photo by Bobbi Lin
  • Makes 4 to 6 cups
Author Notes

Freezing this piña colada instead of blending it with ice has advantages (and you could treat it as a granita if you don’t own an ice cream maker). Since you don’t have to flavor the water added by ice, you can use a small amount of raw sugar and pure coconut milk instead of the slightly suspicious (if delicious) Coco Lopez. A puree of fresh ripe pineapple stands in for juice, making a thick, creamy texture and more intense flavor. I recommend buying pre-cut pineapple, because grocers usually use fruits that are super-ripe (too ripe to be pretty) for that purpose. Nonetheless, pineapples vary widely in sweetness and acidity, so you may need to adjust the lime and sugar to taste. I still like to decorate the finished drink with a cocktail umbrella and bendy straw! —Hannah Kirshner

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 pineapple (3 to 4 cups chunks)
  • 1/4 cup raw sugar, plus more to taste
  • Zest and juice of 1 lime, plus more juice to taste
  • 1 cup (scant) scant cup pure, whole fat coconut milk
  • Pinch said
  • 1/2 cup mild rum, such as Don Q gold
  • 1/2 cup Smith & Cross Jamaican Rum
  • Pineapple leaves or mint sprigs, for garnish
Directions
  1. If you are using a canister ice cream maker, such as a Cuisinart like mine, freeze the canister at least 24 hours in advance.
  2. In a blender, puree the pineapple with the sugar, lime zest and juice, coconut milk, and a pinch of salt. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker, add 1/4 cup of each rum and spin until thick and icy, about 20 to 30 minutes.
  3. Add the rest of the rum—it will thin the mixture a little, so keep spinning until it get’s back to where it was. Taste, and add more lime or sugar as needed.
  4. Freeze in a pint container, or serve immediately, garnished with a cocktail umbrella and a pineapple leaf or sprig of mint.
  5. If you freeze the mixture, it will harden to a sorbet consistency. Simply thaw for 10 to 20 minutes at room temperature to soften, and whisk briskly to smooth it out before serving.
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  • Lillian Lockhart
    Lillian Lockhart
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  • Julie Gomoll
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Hannah Kirshner
Hannah Kirshner is author of Water, Wood, and Wild Things.  She is a writer, artist, and food stylist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, Saveur, Taste, Food52, Roads & Kingdoms, and Atlas Obscura, among others. Trained at the Rhode Island School of Design, Kirshner grew up on a small farm outside Seattle and divides her time between Brooklyn and rural Japan.

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3 Reviews

Lillian L.
Lillian L. February 18, 2017
There's a typo, it said Pinch Said instead of Pinch Salt in the ingredients.
 
HelloThereNicole
HelloThereNicole August 17, 2016
If you're using a freezer bowl style ice cream maker, like the CuisineArt one that I have, never add the alcohol until the last 5-10 minutes (I would even recommend doing it in splashes and waiting for it to refreeze) If you add the alcohol at the beginning you run the risk of it never freezing in the first place, as the bowl will not be able to get cold enough to start the freezing process.
 
Julie G.
Julie G. August 17, 2016
I'm going to try margaritas!