Recipe: Jamaican Smile

Remember on "Friends," when Monica was making casseroles for her mother's party and Phoebe exclaims, "It's hard to believe that just a little while ago, this was nothing but ingredients!" I don't know why, but that always pops into my head whenever I cook. 

Yesterday was a dreary thunderstorm-y day here in North Florida, but that never stops us from having fruity blended beverages! So I threw out our old leaky blender, took Hubs to the store, and came home with a brand new blender, yay! On our honeymoon in Jamaica, we enjoyed a local drink called a "Jamaican Smile." I had probably five per day:

 

They are pretty much amazing, and when we got home, we immediately researched how to recreate these bad boys.

We found a few different recipes and after combining a couple of them and a couple rounds of trial-and-error, I managed to make a Jamaican Smile that tasted just like the ones we enjoyed by the pool.

 

The drink is a little involved--we are essentially a scotch neat or rum-and-coke sort of household--but it's totally worth it for the outcome. You need: ice, milk, pina colada mix, strawberry daiquiri mix, rum cream, rum, and a banana. (We used coconut rum until we ran out, and spiced rum doesn't change the taste too much.) I don't actually measure anything when I make this drink but I broke out the shot glasses as a reference. Once you make it once or twice, you'll be able to eyeball it.

The riper, the better as far as bananas are concerned.

 

This recipe makes TWO Jamaican Smiles, so naturally, you need two shots of rum! Hubs won two bottles of Guyana-made rum on our honeymoon and we're already on the second bottle. (Also, the cute Seattle Space Needle shot glass was a gift from my sister.)

 

You only need a splash of rum cream per drink, so half a shot sufficed for two.

 

Two shots of the pina colada mix of your choosing.

 

One shot of your strawberry daiquiri mix (or strawberry syrup if you prefer).

 

And a shot of milk, like all hardcore drinkers.

 

Set that baby on "smoothie" (or your blender's corresponding button) and watch the magic unfold!

 

Mmmmm! Tasty! In real life, these are pinker than this one suggests. And look how good it looks in Hubs' chair!

 

What do you think? Are you gonna try this AWESOME drink?