My Merry Miami Holiday Vibes
Forget White Christmas. Here's how we do it in South Florida.
For many Americans, December is full of joyous memories of magical snowfall, warm drinks, and gathering around a cozy fireplace with loved ones. My version of the holidays is spent in the glorious warmth of Miami, Florida where we might get lucky if the temperature dips below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
It takes a certain amount of commitment and dedication to make Christmas feel truly festive when you’re a few miles from a tropical beach. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. White Christmas is overrated. Here are a handful of my favorite recipes that truly capture the essence of my beautiful and crazy Miami holiday season.
‘Miami-style’ Cortadito
Miami-style cortaditos are a year round fixture in my life, but this little drink is imperative around the holiday season. A sweet and salty coffee treat that will fuel your last-minute holiday shopping.
A ‘Miami-style’ cortadito is a riff on a few classic Cuban espresso drinks. This drink combines the cafe bonbon, a traditional Caribbean and Spanish coffee drink made of equal parts sweetened condensed milk and espresso, with a Cuban cortadito, a cortado made with whipped sugar and Cuban coffee.
It’s easy to make with any sort of espresso machine, but preferably made with coffee from a moka pot (otherwise known as a cafetera). Make sure to use a dark roast coffee for that signature chocolate-y, bitter flavor of Cuban coffee, The not-so-secret ingredient is sweetened condensed milk. My dad is the king of the cortadito. Beware, once you make it for friends and family, they’ll be asking for more.
Ingredients
For 1 serving size
¼ cup of your milk of choice
Tbsp of sweetened condensed milk
Double shot of espresso
Pinch of flaky salt (optional)
Instructions
Steam your ¼ cup of milk or heat it up in the microwave until warm and fluffy.
Add sweetened condensed milk to the bottom of your cup. Brew the espresso over the sweetened condensed milk. Mix until combined.
Add your milk to the cup. Sprinkle a pinch of flaky salt if desired. Enjoy.
Puerto Rican Hot Chocolate
Yes, even in tropical climates, people drink hot chocolate. And this is the best way to make it. This Puerto Rican riff on hot chocolate is more similar to European drinking chocolate than it is to the watery, pale hot drink I associate with American hot cocoa. No powder around here. I like it thick, decadent, and dessert-like.
Traditionally, Puerto Rican hot chocolate is served with cubes of cheddar cheese at the bottom of the mug. This is a common practice in Latin America, similar to the hot chocolate and melty cheese drink enjoyed in Colombia. The idea is that the warm, thick chocolate melts the blocks of cheese and you can spoon out the melty cheese with a spoon while sipping. The salty cheese rounds out the intense flavor of the chocolate. If desired, you can add a few cheddar cheese cubes to the bottom of your mug when you make this recipe at home. My family just prefers it without the cheese.
My dad’s good friend makes a big pot of this hot chocolate on chilly nights , and it’s gone in minutes. Plus, it only requires a handful of ingredients. This drink is a crowd pleaser across age ranges if you’re hosting family, and also pairs very well with a shot or two of rum.
Ingredients
For 4 to 6 servings
1 bar of Cortes brand chocolate. This is the classic chocolate bar that makes Puerto Rico’s hot chocolate stand out from the rest.
1 can of evaporated milk
2 cups of whole milk
Pinch of salt
Instructions
Melt the Cortes chocolate bar in a saucepan over low to medium heat. You can make smaller servings by only using a few pieces of the bar rather than the whole thing.
Once melted, add in evaporated and whole milk to the pan. Slowly add milk in to get a thicker consistency.
Serve with a pinch of salt, a shot of rum, or a few cheese cubes at the bottom of the mug.
Coquito (aka Puerto Rican “egg nog”)
I featured coquito a few weeks ago in our Thanksgiving round-up—but it bears repeating since, traditionally, this is best enjoyed around Christmas. Coquito is a creamy, rum-based drink similar to a coconut eggnog (minus the egg). It can be made without the rum altogether for more of a decadent, milkshake adjacent drink. I use the recipe below to make two batches. Most coquito recipes are the same, but the levels of spice and the types of rum are what varies most. I prefer more cinnamon and a little bit of lime peel for zest. I think it’s best enjoyed with dessert (perhaps with the mantecadito shortbread cookies below?)
For the ‘tea’ base
add or take out any spices based on flavor preference
1 cup water
3 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
4 star anise
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
For the cream base
1 cup Don Q rum
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 can of evaporated milk
1 can coconut milk
1 can cream of coconut - ideally ‘coco lopez’ brand
4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp peel of lime
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Bring the water to a boil, add spices, let steep for 3-5 minutes on simmer. Strain out the spices and let this tea cool.
Combine all cream-base ingredients except for rum into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the cooled tea base and the alcohol, and stir until combined. Bottle and keep in the fridge. It tastes best when it’s ice cold.
Makes 2 large (750 ml) bottles. Split the recipe in half if you want to make one with rum and one without.
Mantecaditos
These are Puerto Rican shortbread thumbprint cookies. Because what good is an afternoon coffee without a crumbly, buttery cookie to pair with it? These little treats are a holiday staple in my family, and my favorite cookie recipe to make every year. Every country has their own version of these sorts of cookies, but obviously, this is the best one.
The recipe is a classic lard-based thumbprint cookie paired with comforting, tropical fillings like guava and dulce de leche. It’s from one of my grandma’s recipe books and is the most requested dessert at the Christmas Eve dinner table. Just one batch makes anywhere from 20-30 cookies that look dazzling when arranged on a serving platter. And, of course, they go perfectly with a salty sweet cortadito in the afternoon.
I usually stick to making them all with guava filling, using a block of guava paste, but they can truly be made with any and all flavor fillings. I prefer the flavor of the Crisco vegetable shortening, but lard adds another salty flavor dimension to these cookies too.
Ingredients
Yields about 20 cookies
½ cup salted butter, room temp
½ cup vegetable shortening or lard
½ cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 block of guava paste or any desired fillings
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a baking sheet.
Cream the butter and shortening in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until combined.
Add white sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy.
Slowly add in flour to wet ingredients until just combined. Don’t overmix.
Divide out 1-2 tsp of dough and roll into little balls. Place an inch or so apart on the baking sheet as they slightly spread.
Make a thumbprint indentation in each cookie. Add fillings to small wells in cookies. For the guava paste, I cut about ½ inch size cubes of guava paste and place in the well of each. For dulce de leche, spoon small amounts of the filling into the wells. Be careful not to overfill.
Bake for 18 minutes, until they are slightly more golden. Let cool.