Pina Colada Ice Cream

By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

It’s National Piña Colada Day today.  What a great way to honor and celebrate Puerto Rico, the birthplace of the classic drink! The person who first made the drink is uncertain, but one thing is clear, it hails from either the Caribe Hotel  (in the mid 1950’s) or La Barrachina Restaurant (in the mid 1960’s), both located in San Juan.

The name Pina Colada means “strained pineapple” and not pineapple-coconut (as you might be tempted to guess.) Usually a sweet frozen cocktail made with sweetened coconut milk and rum, it is one of the most popular tropical drinks ever. But it doesn’t have to be a cocktail as the classic flavor combination can be made into so many things, as we can see from the selection of recipes from Sunday Supper bloggers this week. I decided to do a pina colada ice cream (well not technically an ice cream since it is a frozen custard) but ice cream all the same.

One of the main ingredients in pina colada is the popular Coco Lopez (cream of coconut). I always find this ingredient interesting because when I post Thai recipes calling for coconut milk, I always seem to have to make some disclaimer about using unsweetened coconut milk in Thai curries instead of the sweetened Coco Lopez version. In fact, I don’t even bother to use the Coco Lopez in my pitcher pina coladas at all, going with the unsweetened. It is also important in cooking and mixing libations that coconut cream refers to the thick part of coconut milk that rises to the top of the can, and this is unrelated to Coco Lopez which is a sweetened product.

In this particular ice cream, I went with  the mixer- I can’t really say why, but it is pretty much homogenized, and since I was also using a can of coconut milk (unsweetened) I felt it had less chance of trying to separate in the custard overnight. As it turns out, it didn’t separate during the chill time, and may not have done so regardless of which thing I used in it. I do make this as a cooked custard, but I imagine you can work this out as a plain ice cream without the eggs if you can’t have those. I have always found that eggs in frozen custard add a richer creamier flavor and texture.

However you choose to make this, I hope you enjoy and don’t forget to check out the other pina colada inspired recipes from the Sunday Supper group below.

Until next time-

~Sue

Coconut for National Piña Colada Day

Hosted by Constance of Cosmopolitan Cornbread 

Great Starts

• Gluten Free Coconut French Toast by Gluten Free Crumbley
• Make Ahead Healthy Pina Colada Breakfast Parfait by Easy Cooking with Molly
• Pina Colada Granola (grain free) by My Life Cookbook
• Piña Colada Nut Bread by Where Latin Meets Lagniappe
• Pina Colada Overnight Oats by Take A Bite Out of Boca
• Pina Colada Pancakes by Dizzy Busy and Hungry

Dive in with Sides and Appetizers

• Coconut Shrimp with Pina Colada Sauce by From Gate to Plate
• Easy Pina Colada Salad by April Golightly
• Piña Colada Coleslaw by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Coco-Nutty Main Dishes

• Chickpea Potato Curry by Sunday Supper Movement
• Coconut Shrimp with Pina Colada Sauce by From Gate to Plate
• Coconut Shrimp with Pina Colada Sauce by Feeding Big and more
• Piña Colada Chicken and Rice by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Pina Colada Chicken Skewers by The Crumby Cupcake
• Pineapple Barbecue Chops with Colada Slaw by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Slow cooker Pineapple Chicken Curry by Caroline’s Cooking

“Col-lots-a” Desserts

• Coconut Pound Cake by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Cookies and Coconut Cream Popsicles by Books n’ Cooks
• Creamy Dairy-Free Vegan Coconut Ice Cream by Positively Stacey
• Easy Pina Colada Fudge by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Easy Pina Colada Poke Cake by Crazed Mom
• Homemade Samoas by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• How to make a Pina Colada Flan – Custard with Coconut and Pineapple by Asian In America
• Island Breeze Pina Colada Panna Cotta by The Weekend Gourmet
• Kheer by What Smells So Good?
• Lime Coconut Lassi by Food Lust People Love
• Mini Roasted Blueberry and Coconut Cream Trifles by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Pina Colada Bars by Dessert Geek
• Pina Colada Cream Pie by Cookin’ Mimi
• Pina Colada Cupcakes by The Redhead Baker
• Pina Colada Energy Balls by Wholistic Woman
• Piña Colada Ice Cream by Palatable Pastime
• Pina Colada Rice Pudding by Hardly A Goddess
• Piña Colada Trifle by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pina Colada Tropical Fruit Cups with Coconut Yogurt Dip by The Hungry Goddess
• Pina Colada Upside Down Cake by Bottom Left of the Mitten
• Pineapple Coconut Pudding by Magnolia Days
• Samoa Smacky Delicious Mix by Cooking With Carlee
• Toasted Coconut Sour Cherry Sundae by Pies and Plots
• Tropical Fruit Cups by The Freshman Cook

Sweet to Sip Beverages

• Boozy Coconut & Caramel Milkshakes by Momma’s Meals
• Classic Piña Colada by The Chef Next Door
• Coconut Banana Rum Smoothie by Desserts Required
• Coquito by Monica’s Table
• Pina Colada Agua Fresca by Simply Healthy Family
• Pina Colada Freeze by Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Pina Colada Smoothie by A Mind Full Mom
• Spiced Pina Colada by Family Around the Table

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