Name: Vegan Tembleque
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Ingredients: 2 cans (13.5 oz each) coconut milk; ½ - ¾ cup sweetened cream of coconut (adjust to your liking and taste); ½ cup cornstarch; ⅔ or ¾ cup brown sugar (adjust to your liking and taste); ½ tsp salt; 1 tsp vanilla extract; ½ tbsp ground cinnamon; For garnish: cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon & coconut shreds

Tembleque traditional Puerto Rican coconut jiggly dessert made from ingredients you probably have on hand– coconut milk, sugar, & cornstarch. All Vegan!

Vegan | Gluten-free | Soy-free

In Puerto Rico we celebrate Christmas with lots of music, roasts, rice with pigeons peas, pasteles, coquito, pitorro, and my favorite, some delicious Tembleque. No joke, every single Puerto Rican holiday gathering, will have all of the above.

But specially tembleque.

What is tembleque?

Tembleque can be considered a type of pudding or panna cotta made out of coconut and cornstarch. The name comes from the Spanish word “temblar”, which translates to “shake”; that is because when you take the tembleque out of its pan, it holds the shape but it slightly jiggles when moved.

Coconut haters hear me out! Living on this island means that coconut has been extremely accessible for centuries, making coconut the star of our top three Puerto Rican Holiday treats: coquito, arroz con dulce & tembleque. Tembleque has a very soft and creamy texture and it’s sweet/rich aroma is bound to make you fall head over heels for it.

Veganizing Tembleque

Truth be told, everything is not what it seems, and that’s the case with Tembleque. Not only is the original recipe already vegan, but it’s extremely easy to prepare. Some people ask themselves; how is it possible to make this with so few ingredients? It would seem that a dessert with such consistency would require non-vegan ingredients like gelatin, but that’s not the case at all.

Its main ingredients are coconut milk, sweetened coconut cream, sugar, and cornstarch. You mix all of the ingredients in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and the cornstarch thickens. Then you can either add the mix to one pan or individual ones, and let set in the fridge. Yes, it’s seriously that simple!

Notes:

Since this recipe is very unique and requires very few ingredients, there’s very little room to play with substitutes. Its main ingredients cannot be replaced, but you can play around with flavoring.
Some variations include: lemon, almond, chocolate, and pumpkin; although the pumpkin version didn’t quite work for me.
For an extra coconut boost, try adding coconut sugar instead of regular brown sugar.

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Vegan Tembleque

Rating: 5.0/5
( 2 voted )

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 5 Minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes 15 minutes Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

2 cans (13.5 oz each) coconut milk

½ - ¾ cup sweetened cream of coconut (adjust to your liking and taste)

½ cup cornstarch

⅔ or ¾ cup brown sugar (adjust to your liking and taste)

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tbsp ground cinnamon

For garnish: cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon & coconut shreds

Procedure

Set out pans for tembleque (square pan, individual ramekins,etc).

To a bowl, add cornstarch with 1 can of coconut milk, and whisk until completely dissolved and smooth.

To a saucepan pour the other can of coconut milk, coconut condensed milk, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sugar is dissolved. About 5 minutes.

Pour in the coconut milk and cornstarch mixture, and mix until well incorporated. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue stirring until thick, about 1-3 minutes.

Pour mixture into pan or individual ramekins and let completely cool to room temperature before covering with plastic wrap.

Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight, but may take only a few hours depending on the size of pans.

Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen, then invert onto a plate.

To serve, sprinkle with ground cinnamon, and garnish with cinnamon sticks & shredded coconut. ENJOY!

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