Venezuelan Ponche Crema

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Thanksgiving has come and gone. All of the leftovers have either been eaten, re-purposed and it’s time to move on to new flavor profiles. As much as I love Thanksgiving, it is time to move on. I am not a huge fan of leftovers. I don’t mind taking the leftovers and creating new dishes with them, but I have never been one to eat the same meal in leftover form.

It’s hard to believe that we are rolling into December this weekend. This year has flow by in warp speed. Growing up I never like eggnog, I have tried it many times over the years, but still never liked it. Two years ago my fiancée’s mom was in visiting from Venezuela. She made up several bottles of Ponche Creama. This is Venezuelan version of egg nog.

Since I have never liked the taste of eggnog, I didn’t really jump out of my chair to taste it. In fact it sat in the refrigerator for several days before she was able to get me to even take a sip. That first sip was all it took, I’m not sure why I didn’t at least try it at first. Venezuelan food for the most part is comfort foods, very different from what I grew up on in Appalachia, but comfort food is comfort food.

The recipe is very simple, only 5 ingredients. I guarantee that once you try this you will never drink store bought eggnog again. Start with 5 cups of whole milk in a medium sauce pot over low heat. You want to bring the heat up slowly so that the milk doesn’t burn. Add in the flan mixture. I use Royal Flan, it can be found in the pudding and Jello section. It comes in 5.5 ounce packages. Stir constantly and cook for about five minutes. The mixture will begin to thicken. 

Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Pour into a bowl and place into the refrigerator to cool completely and set, about two hours. Add half of the cooled flan to a blender. Add in one 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk and 1 cup of rum and blend until smooth. This recipes is made traditionally with dark rum. I used a bottle of nice Dominican dark rum that we brought back from vacation a few years ago. 

Using a funnel add to a glass bottle, and repeat with the remaining ingredients for the second bottle. A good place to find glass bottles is Marshall’s of Home Goods. Make sure to clean and sanitize them well prior to using them. These will easily keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator, I can never keep them in the house that long. I hope that you give this a try and bring a little Venezuelan comfort food into your holiday season.  

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Venezuelan Ponche Crema

Course Drink

Cuisine Venezuelan

Keyword Christmas

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 5.5 ounce box Royal Flan Mix
• 5 Cups Whole Milk
• 2 14 Ounce Cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 Cups Dark Rum

Instructions

1. Place the milk into a medium sauce pan over low heat and add the contents of the flan mix into the pan stirring constantly. You just want to curdle the flan mixture so be careful not to burn it.
2. Remove from the heat to cool slightly and transfer to a glass bowl and place into the refrigerator to set completely. About two hours.
3. Add half of the flan mixture to a blender. To this add one can of sweetened condensed milk and one cup of dark rum and blend until smooth. using a funnel transfer to a glass bottle and repeat with the remaining ingredients.