It is almost time for Cinco.
If you are a Mexican living in the US and you want to get attention, if you want to make some noise, if you feel that you have something good to share or say: Cinco de Mayo is your day!
My first cooking demo: Foods from Puebla during Cinco.
The first time I got invited to cook on TV: Chicken Tinga for Cinco.
My first radio interview: Do Mexicans celebrate Cinco?
The biggest sales day for my first cookbook: Cinco.
The day I was honored to be invited as guest chef to cook at the White House: You guessed it, Cinco!
Heck: you aren’t Mexican and hoping for an opportunity? Wait for Cinco anyway.
The funny thing is, in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is a local celebration mainly in the city of Puebla, where a small Mexican militia beat a large French army in 1862. The French won right back and it took a few years for Mexico to shake itself off from an imposed European Monarchy.
Cinco is not a national holiday. There aren’t fiestas throughout the country that day. There isn’t Mariachi music on every corner. No margaritas generously poured in the middle afternoon specifically on that day. We don’t dress Mexican, partly because we are Mexicans every single day of the year, but mostly, because when we dress ourselves in the color of the Mexican flag it is either for Mexican Independence Day -September 16- or when Mexico is playing an international soccer match. And then, we dress the entire country as well.
But in the US, for whatever reason, Cinco de Mayo has become a day to celebrate anything and everything we love about Mexico, Mexicans and Mexican food. And thus, there are Mexican fiestas everywhere, Mariachi music playing on street corners, slushy margaritas of all kinds being poured in the middle of the afternoon, and people – be them Mexicans or not– dressing as Mexicans.
And for that: we need to toast and celebrate!
Any occasion to celebrate the beauty, the warmth, the richness of Mexican food and culture, the resilience of our people, is welcome by Mexicans everywhere.
To help celebrate, here is my gift for you this Cinco: A crazy good Coco-Lime Margarita. One that transports you to the beach where you can taste the salty sea breeze in the rim and munch on toasted sweetened coconut with a sprinkle of lime zest as you sip along a creamy and luscious Margarita.
It is a very special one for me, too, because I developed it for my next cookbook, which I am working on. It is called “Mexican Today” and will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I am thrilled to be working with my same editor, Rux Martin, and so very thankful she considered publishing my second cookbook.
Please do look out for it! I am having so much fun with it and I know you will too. I am going wild in those pages… It will come out in 2016. Guess when? A month before Cinco!
From this Mexican to you, with all my gratitude and love, I hope you enjoy this Margarita.
Coco-Lime Margarita
Recipe Yield
Cooking time
Rate this recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut such as Bakers’ Coconut Angel Flakes
- Pinch of kosher or coarse sea salt plus more for the glasses
- 1 lime zested then quartered for the glasses
- 1 1/2 cups cream of coconut
- 1 cup white or silver tequila
- 2/3 cup Triple Sec Cointreau or another orange liqueur
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 cups Ice cubes for pouring on the rocks or making slushy style
To Prepare
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spread the angel flakes on a small baking sheet, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and the lime zest, mix and spread again. Place in the oven and bake for 6 to 7 minutes, or until the coconut is just barely beginning to color. It should not brown. Remove from the oven and immediately transfer to a small bowl. Reserve.
- Pour some salt onto a small plate. Rub the rims of the glasses with the quartered lime, squeezing some of the juice over them. Then gently dip in the salt, coating all around the rims. Set aside.
- Combine the cream of coconut, tequila, orange liqueur and lime juice in a blender and puree until completely mixed and smooth. If making slushy style, add the 2 cups of ice and puree until almost smooth. Serve with the toasted flakes on top.
- If serving on the rocks, fill each glass with about 1/2 cup ice cubes and pour in the margarita mixture. Top with the coconut flakes.
Comments
30comments inCoco-Lime Margarita: Let’s Toast to Cinco (and a New Cookbook…)!
Anonymous
Feb 25
This recipe needs some fine-tuning. Three of us tried this and none of us cared for it, sorry to say. Part of it was that the amount of tequila is way overboard and overpowering. Instead of enhancing the taste like you would usually expect in a margarita, we found that the salt and lime actually conflicted with the flavor in this case. Removing the salt from the glass helped somewhat, but none of us drank more than three or four sips.
Pati Jinich
Mar 07
Thanks for the feedback, I am taking notes here 😉
Matthew duncan
Feb 23
Made it and everyone loved it! Thank you for sharing!
Pati Jinich
Mar 07
My pleasure Matthew 😉
Junette Andregg
Feb 22
Ive been following you for awhile.. love your recipes .
Pati Jinich
Mar 07
Thanks so much Junette, un abrazo!
LIZ MARTINEZ
Feb 22
SOUNDS DELICIOUS, GOT A TRY IT!!!
Pati Jinich
Mar 07
Hope you’ll like it Liz 😉
Lynn
Feb 22
I like Cinco so much I had my daughter on May 5. She was about middle school before she figured out why the Mexican restaurant always threw a party for her birthday !
Pati Jinich
Mar 07
Haha, you made me laugh Lynn! Double celebration every year, yay!
Ana Ramírez
Feb 22
Es de mis margaritas favoritas. Por supuesto que la haré. Mi esposo y yo vemos tus programas y nos encanta la manera en que cocinas.
Pati Jinich
Mar 07
Muchisimas gracias Ana, les mando un abrazo, que alegria que les gusto esta Margarita 😉
Raquel
Nov 14
I saw your show for the first time and I’m hooked! Lol…
These Coconut Margaritas are so Delicious Pati!
Thank you so much for sharing this Super Delicious recipe! 5 stars
Muchas Gracias Pati
Pati Jinich
Nov 22
So glad you found me Raquel, please stay tuned 😉
Melody Colbran
Feb 22
Me encanta tu show, y siempre lo veo con mi hija desde Papua New Guinea! Soy de Venezuela y tu cocinas tan sabroso que siempre hago tus recetas. Saludos y éxitos.
Pati
Feb 23
Uy mil gracias Melody!
Zack Durden
Feb 06
can I please be the first to tell you that I actually made this instead just trying to make it like every other post made about it. Pati I feel I must tell you that I have tried just about everything you have made on your show. LOVE IT ALL. I very good friend of mine came to the states from Oaxaca to work and his wife Margarita showed me how to make authentic Mexican food but since then have moved away . I would love to see make something a little more authentic such as Menudo ( I can never make it taste just right for some reason) and albondigas. I was not sure on where to leave this comment so I left it under my favorite coconut margarita. it’s so cool and refreshing ! Thanks again. your fan for always. Zack Durden
Pati
Feb 07
I’m so happy to hear that you have loved everything you have tried! I have two albondigas recipes you might like… http://patijinich.com/pati_2020/recipe/dreaming_of_julios_albondigas/ http://patijinich.com/pati_2020/recipe/meatballs-in-guajillo-sauce/ And I will try to add a Menudo recipe. 🙂
Ivy
Feb 22
This looks SO good! We watch your show with our three little girls daily if we can. So fun! I’m excited to try this recipe! ?
Pati
Feb 23
Hope you love it Ivy!
Valeria
Jun 25
I just watched my first Patis show! Wow. Loved it. Now I can make the food that I love. Think that I may make the cheesecake too. Thanks !!!
Pati
Jun 25
So happy you liked it!
Sal Nicolosi
May 14
This blog looks very good. I love Mexican cuisine.Your recipe is looking pretty cool and delicious. I love to have it. I tried Mexican cuisine in many restaurants but one of them was superb having crazy taste. Especially their fresh tacos and burriots was delicious. I love to go there again.Mexican & SW Food
Pati
May 15
Thank you!
Neptali
May 11
WOW! This blog is pretty cool and I love Mexicans food. The pictures of your recipe look very delicious, it attracts me. I also love your fresh and healthy recipes. Can’t wait to taste it and share it with my girlfriend.This is a nice service. Thanks for sharing your recipes. Excellent!
Maureen Bradley
May 01
Pati:
Is their a “virgin” version? We are having a party at work and I thought to make a drink but not sure how this would taste w/out the tequila and triple sec. Any thoughts would be most welcome. !Gracias!
Maureen
cathy
Apr 30
This sounds so good and I will be making!
Pati
Apr 30
Thank you!! Let me know what you think!
Maria
Feb 23
Pati,
Can you use gold tequila for this recipe if you don’t have white or silver tequila?
Pati Jinich
Mar 07
Of course Maria, go for it! Hope you’ll liked this Margarita 😉