Beverage Recipes

DIY Dole Whip

This month marks the 57th anniversary of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. When it opened in Disneyland, way back in 1963, its claim to fame was the first-ever audio-animatronics — that’s talking birds to you and me. A quartet of very chatty macaws hosted a Hawaiian-themed floor show, performed by a few hundred warbling birds, flowers, and tikis. (Sing it with us: in the tiki, tiki, tiki room, all the birds sing and the flowers croon.) It sounds old hat now, but at the time, it was so awe-inspiring that even the show’s barker, Juan the toucan, drew giant crowds of people, who jammed up the park’s paths, mesmerized by a talking bird hawking the show’s many delights (thunderstorms!) and cajoling passersby to come inside.

Enough about the birds, tell us about the cocktail! True story: the Enchanted Tiki Room is sponsored by Dole, the geniuses behind the snack bar’s signature frozen treat — the one and only Dole Whip.

The drink is a delectable whirl of frozen pineapple chunks, coconut milk, banana, and a wee bit of sugar. There’s also some lemon and lime juice in there to keep the thing from getting too sweet. The result is a thick, sorbet-like drink that’s sweet-tart and very pineapple-y. It tastes amazing with a couple jiggers of rum in it — you kind of need its nutty toffee and vanilla notes to bring out the banana and coconut.

It was a huge hit in the test kitchen. All of our samples disappeared in minutes — and we didn’t hear a word about brain freeze. As one of the testers pointed out, but for the booze, it’s pretty much a smoothie. We can almost hear the macaws singing, “Braaaack, Dole Whip for breakfast.”

Servings: 2

Ingredients

16 oz pineapple chunks, frozen

½ cup canned coconut milk

3 Tbsp sugar

Pinch of kosher salt

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp lime juice

½ banana

2 Tbsp water

2 oz gold rum (optional)

Fresh pineapple, sliced and quartered, for garnish

Directions

  1. In a blender, combine the pineapple, coconut milk, sugar, salt, lemon juice, lime juice, banana, and water and blend until completely smooth.

  2. Add the rum, if desired, and blend until fully combined to make a boozy Dole Whip.

  3. Divide among 2 glasses and garnish with fresh pineapple. Enjoy immediately.

Recipe adapted from: How To Drink

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