Dulce de Coco is a traditional dessert form the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Colombia. It's a shredded coconut, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and milk. Sweet and delicious!
Dulce de Coco (Coconut and Milk Dessert)
Ingredients
- 4 cups of grated coconut
- 2 cups evaporated milk
- 3 cups of whole milk
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low.
- Let it simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes or until thickened. Stire often with a wooden spoon to prevent the dulce de coco to stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Let it cool and serve or transfer to a glass jar.
Nutrition
Calories: 691kcalCarbohydrates: 87gProtein: 18gFat: 33gSaturated Fat: 27gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.5gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 233mgPotassium: 994mgFiber: 8gSugar: 78gVitamin A: 806IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 626mgIron: 2mg
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My grandmother loved to make little homemade desserts, or "dulcesitos caseros", as she called them. Dulce de Coco is a simple and delicious traditional Colombian dessert and one of my favorites.
There is something intensely satisfying about this Dulce de Coco. It is sweet and creamy, and I love the thick texture and that crunch from the coconut. It's great as a puffed pastry filler, or serve it with fresh cheese, queso fresco, like Mamita did. For me the best way to eat Dulce de Coco is to spoon it straight out of the jar!
Buen provecho.
Cheryl
Bingo! Thank you so much for sharing this! I've been wanting and wanting to find a way to make this recipe. 🙂 The summer before my last yr in high school, I spent several weeks out on Bahia Solano helping to run a clinic (about 30 yrs ago, way before any tourism was in the area: we slept on corn husk mattresses, showered in a wood framed open air hut, took dugout canoes to cross the river @ high tide that ran through the middle of the village, waited 'til the tide was out to walk up the beach to get to homes up the coast from the village, and ran generators for light after the sun went down. The kitchens were separate huts, and cooking was all done over wood fires. 🙂 ). One of the ladies made a whole pot of this dulce de coco for me, and sent me home with an overflowing can full! I made it last as long as I possibly could! 🙂 It was darker colored, smokey, caramely and coconutty - and delicioso!! I'm sure I won't be able to reproduce that woodfire taste, but this will come close! 🙂
Jenn and Seth
yummy! this sounds so good!
rebecca
looks like nice sticky goodness 🙂
Heather B
This looks amazing! Just one question... do you use sweetened or unsweetened coconut?
Erica
I prefer fresh coconut, but you can use Unsweetened dried coconut.
Heather B
I dont know why I didnt think of fresh coconut!
I have a history of struggling with coconuts in the past...so I and possibly others would be open to a coconut tutorial! For example, how to pick a good one, and safest way to open one.
Thanks for the recipe!
Dianna
How long will this keep refrigerated/unrefrigerated?
Erica
Diana-I usually keep it in the fridge for a couple of days.
grace
what a treat! this is unique, erica, and completely enticing!
Jeannie
Looks so good! I would love to try this sweet dessert too! Love your photos:)
Cheryl
Update: This was SOOOOOOO good! Couldn't stop eating it! 🙂 I only made 1/4 the recipe, and used half&half instead of the evap. milk (cuz that's what I had), and dried unsweetened shredded coconut. Still turned out wonderful! Thank you, Erica!
Susan
I made it today and I can't stop eating this dulce de coco.Wonderful treat.
Erica
Thank you for all your comments and feed back!
Dianna V
I don't think I can find unsweetened coconut at the store. So if using sweetened, should I just not use sugar? Also, I want to make it as you suggested, as a filling in a pastry. I'm thinking of frying it in an empanada was some queso rallado. Is that a bad idea?
Erica
It sounds delicious and you can use lees sugar.
Kim
Hi and thankyou for sharing this easy recipe. I made it to use as a filler on my coconut cupcakes, it was delicious however it did not thicken and it wasnt a sticky like brownish consistency. What did I do wrong. Followed the recipe 3 times to make sure my measurements were correct.
Thankyou for your advice!
Emily
Sounds so good! Thanks for posting!
Sara
hello Erica, I'm from Colombia, and it's hard to think that our grandmothers had evaporated milk....any suggestions to make the recipe simpler? maybe 4 cups of whole milk instead of three and no evaporated milk? I need a suggestion cuz I don't have evaporated or half and half where I live.
Shirley hurlbert
I need recipe for semi firm coconut balls like they sell on the beaches of mexico