Tropical Fiesta Cocktail for Cinco de Mayo

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.

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.

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:

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