Puerto Rican Coquito-Inspired Sugar Cookies
The holidays are all about celebrating. Everyone celebrates differently because we all have our own special traditions. Latinos usually celebrate with lots of food and lots of booze. What can I say… we know how to party.
One of the popular holiday drinks that always reminds me of the holidays is coquito.
For years now, I’ve made desserts with coquito because I love it so much. From coquito donut holes to coquito cheesecake bars, I’m determined to make a new dessert every chance I get with this coconut-flavored, rum-spiked concoction.
Enter Coquito Sugar Cookies.
5-star review
“Love these cookies my wife and family going crazy for these. Thank you so much very easy to make topping is amazing.”
—Jonas
How To Make Coquito Sugar Cookies
To be honest, I’m not a big sugar cookie fan. But with this coquito icing, however, it’s truly heaven on earth. 🤌🏼
The sugar cookies are soft and chewy. They are the ‘roll out dough and cut out shapes’ type of recipe. So you don’t have to make only round cookies.
Feel free to make whatever cookie-cutter shape your pretty little heart desires. They can be made in advance and placed in the freezer for months. All the notes are in the recipe below.
I cannot emphasize enough that you need to chill the sugar cookie dough before baking, which I know sucks. I’m impatient too, I get it. But recipes that require chilling the dough before baking have a purpose. In this case, chilling the sugar cookie dough prevents it from spreading. No one wants weird-shaped cookies, ya know.
For the coquito icing, I wanted a simple icing that wasn’t too thick. I wanted a drippy icing that was semi-translucent, packed with rum, coconut, and cinnamon flavors. And that it is!
You can taste the rum, but it has a subtle hint of coconut and cinnamon, which, combined with the soft sugar cookie, well, it’s just the perfect holiday party cookie.
The recipe below explains it all.
Soft Cut-Out Sugar Cookies with Coquito-Inspired Icing
Ingredients
Soft Sugar Cookies
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Coquito-Inspired Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons full-fat coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon spiced rum
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- In a bowl, cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined. Add flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until just combined. You should get a soft dough consistency.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough onto a piece of parchment paper to about 1/4″ thickness.
- Place the rolled out dough on a baking sheet, then press another piece of parchment paper on top. Transfer to the refrigerator for 1 hour. Doing this will prevent the cookies from spreading while baking. Do not skip this step.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Using a round cookie cutter, make the cookie rounds. Place on the baking sheet.
- Re-roll the remaining dough and continue cutting until the entire dough is used. I got 18 cookies out of this dough.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before icing. The tops of the cookies should be smooth, and the edges crispy and very lightly browned.
- While the cookies are baking, make the coquito icing. Mix together the powdered sugar, coconut milk, white rum, and cinnamon in a bowl. The icing should be drippy and not too thick.
- Dip each cooled cookie into the icing, allowing excess to drip off, then place on a plate. Allow the icing to set for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Do you refrigerate the coconut milk to separate the liquid before measuring for the icing?
Nope! No need to refrigerate. :)
Hello! I would love to try this recipe! I seem to only have Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut in my pantry. Do you know if this could be used instead of the sugar and coconut milk? I also only have Malibu coconut rum as my white rum! Who knows maybe I should give it a try to see how it all turns out! I just wanted to check with you to see if you had any pointers if I were to use these ingredients! Thank you so much!
Hard to tell since I’ve always made it exactly as the recipe I shared. I guess you can try it knowing it may taste a little different and see what happens. Hope it works out! :)
Love these cookies my wife and family going crazy for these. Thank you so much very easy to make topping is amazing.
So happy to hear! Glad you loved them!
I have to make these soon for my husband’s family. His dad is Puerto Rican and I know he and everyone else will love them!
These are amazing! I’m sure he will LOVE it!