Friday, April 26, 2013

Tropical Fiesta Cocktail for Cinco de Mayo

Tropical Fiesta Cocktail

This past St. Patrick's Day, I got together with a group of other food bloggers to create Irish themed recipes and we had an absolute blast doing it.  So much so that we decided to call ourselves the Holiday Food Party Bloggers and choose a few occasions throughout the year on which to unleash our creativity.  I think you can guess from the title of this post that now we're doing it up for Cinco de Mayo.  The holiday celebrates Mexico's independence but, in New York, it tends to be an excuse to gather at the many wonderful Mexican restaurants in the city, eat great food and drink margaritas.

Tropical Fiesta Cocktail
There's a large Tex/Mex place in midtown Manhattan called El Rio Grande that serves reasonably priced food and over-sized frozen margaritas.  They have a large bar area that draws young singles and, when I was in my 20's, that's where my girlfriends and I would frequently head on Friday nights after work.  It was a given that it was our destination on Cinco de Mayo and I put away my share of those margaritas.

Tropical Fiesta Cocktail
Unfortunately, the years since have taken away my ability to drink tequila but that's no reason not to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!  I did some research to see if Mexico is known for any other liquor and they do, indeed, drink plenty of rum.  So I decided to make a frozen rum drink that uses many of the tropical fruits grown in Mexico such as coconuts, bananas and limes.  We had to make a few test batches (it's a hard job but someone has to do it) and came up with a pretty amazing alternative to the traditional margarita.  Cheers!

For 2 servings:
4 oz. Rum
1 Banana, frozen if possible
4 oz. Pineapple juice
2 oz. Coconut cream (we used Coco Lopez)
2 oz. Lime juice

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and fill with ice.  Puree well until all the ice is incorporated and pour into chilled margarita glasses.  Garnish with a wedge of lime or pineapple, if desired.  Makes two extra large servings.


Be sure to check out all the other Mexican inspired deliciousness our group has put together:

Tropical Fiesta Cocktail

1. Alfajores from Roxana’s Home Baking
2. Spicy Fish Tacos with Avocado Yogurt Sauce from Crumb Blog
3. Classic Flan from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
4. Dulce de Leche Milkshake with Coconut Milk Whipped Cream from Chocolate Moosey
5. Lime Margerita Bars from Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
6. Shrimp and Avocado Ceviche from Magnolia Days
7. Tropical Fiesta Cocktail from Hungry Couple NYC
8. Paletas – Mexican Popsicles from Pineapple and Coconut
9. Bizcochitos Cookies from Jen’s Favorite Cookies
10. Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes from Gotta Get Baked
11. Vegan Taco Salad from What Smells So Good
12. Gluten Free Tres Leches Cake from Kelly Bakes
13. Queso Blanco from The Messy Baker
14. Gorditas with Picadillo from Juanita’s Cocina
15. Strawberry Margerita Slurpee from Chocolate Chocolate and More

21 comments:

  1. Oh Anita, I need one of these... like... now. I don't care what time it is. Perfect Cinco De Mayo recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I also spent lots of nights at a Mexican restaurant sipping giant margaritas when I was in my 20's. I'm also not a big tequila fan although I found one drink recently I like. Your cocktail is one I would love to sip on a hot summer night.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a perfect cinco de mayo margarita!!! Beautiful photos too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anita, you always have the BEST drinks! I love anything with pineapple in it, I'll be this is fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a marvelous cocktail, Anita! A drink with pineapple and coconut is one I couldn't resist...and after the last 24 hours, I could use a few!!! xo

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is totally my kind of cocktail... cold, refreshing, fruity and dangerously drinkable.
    In fact, I could totally go for one of these right about now! Is it 5pm yet? :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. This looks FUN! (And I love extra large servings!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Curse me for not living in NYC - I'd gladly volunteer to help you taste test cocktails! Anita, this is boozy perfection. Isabelle's comment says it best: "cold, refreshing, fruity and dangerously drinkable". Hear hear!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That looks delicious!! May have to try that one day! Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Let's get drunk together someday. You bring the drinks, I'll bring me. :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've had my eye on this cocktail ever since your sneaky peek. Oh yeah, rum! Love this!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I prefer rum over tequila anyway so this works perfectly for me.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This cocktail is so perfect for Cinqo de Mayo, Anita!

    ReplyDelete
  14. These all look so wonderful! Cinco de Mayo is Lawyer Boy's birthday (all our kids were born on holidays) and we always have holiday themed food and now drinks since they are adults. This will be perfect for our Sunday Party! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  15. So you know if I actually liked bananas and coconut I'd be all over this. I do love a good frozen cocktail though. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ole!! Totally needed this over last week!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh oh oh! I have rum!! I rarely drink alcohol outside of going out somewhere. It's just not something I make at home. But I have rum because of rum cake, so now I need make this cocktail while making rum cake :D

    ReplyDelete
  18. Seriously yummy looking drink Anita. It's like a Mexican slushie, totally down with that.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thank for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Delicious!!! We made this tonight for Cinco de Mayo and it was a hit! Who knew cream of coconut was the secret to making such creamy drinks? Thank you so much for posting this :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. I LOVE THIS! I’m definitely gonna try this out. One of my favorite recipes is for a Cinco de Mayo Sunrise. You can take a look at it here www.weartostandout.com/blog/cinco-de-mayo-sunrise-recipe and tell me what you think! xoxo, WearToStandOut

    ReplyDelete

We'd love to hear from you!