Quick and Easy Piña Colada Fudge

Make this booze-free, no-cook beauty in a mixer

Craving sweets but don’t want to turn on the oven during hot summer days? We have the answer!

You can make this addictive Piña Colada Fudge in mere minutes, using just a mixer.

Unlike a real Piña Colada, this one has no rum in it. But you can always accompany it with a tipple if you wish. Because summer.

Recipe: Quick and Easy Piña Colada Fudge

Mrs. Kitchen Riffs is the dessert maven in our household, and this is her creation. It was inspired by an aunt of hers who taught her this quick mixer method for making fudge decades ago. It’s not actually fudge in the classic sense, but something more like cake frosting with attitude. It looks like fudge and has the same consistency, though. So fudge, we say.

A Piña Colada cocktail is a delightful mixture of coconut, pineapple, and rum. We’re skipping the rum, but go heavy on coconut and pineapple extract to create a flavor that’s remarkably similar to the liquid version. And we’ve added some lime for interest.

This recipe requires about 15 minutes of active time. Then you need to cool the fudge in the refrigerator (so it can solidify) before you shape or cut it. That will take about two hours (though you can speed things up a bit by putting it in the freezer).  

Yield depends on how large you cut the pieces, but figure on about 3 dozen 1-inch squares.  

Leftovers keep for a week or so if refrigerated in an airtight container.

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• ~10 ounces sweetened coconut flakes
• zest and juice of 2 to 3 limes 
• ~1 teaspoon pineapple extract (or more to taste)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ~5 cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar
  

Procedure 

1. Line an 8x8-inch pan with parchment or waxed paper.
2. Melt the butter in a microwave or in a saucepan over low stovetop heat. If using a microwave, cover the container with a lid. Microwave in increments of 30 seconds until the butter is fully melted.
3. Pour the melted butter into the bowl of a stand mixer (or into a large mixing bowl, if using a hand mixer). Add the coconut and mix to combine. Add the lime zest and juice, along with the pineapple and vanilla extracts. Mix until well combined.
4. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix until well combined. 
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and refrigerate until well chilled. Allow the mixture to chill completely (or even freeze it). Then cut the fudge into pieces of about 1 inch square. Enjoy!
   

Notes

• Ingredient quantities in this recipe are flexible, so adjust to taste.
• You can leave out the lime if you wish (many recipes for Piña Colada cocktails don’t include it). But it does cut the sweetness of the fudge and adds an interesting dimension to the flavor, so we recommend using it.
• The easiest way to zest limes (i.e., grate their outer skins) is with a Microplane grater.
• Be sure to use high quality (pure) vanilla extract. Its flavor is so much better than the imitation kind.
• Pure vanilla extract is made by soaking vanilla beans in a mixture of water and alcohol for several months. BTW, the FDA requires that pure vanilla extract contain at least 35% alcohol. If the label doesn’t say “pure,” that means it’s made from synthetic vanilla. The artificial kind is usually derived from the sapwood of several species of conifers—or from coal extracts! How appetizing (not).
• The flavor of some imitation vanillas can be nasty. You don’t have to spend a fortune on pure vanilla extract, but getting decent quality does mean spending a bit more for something that’s not loaded with sugar or imitation flavoring. Do yourself a favor and get the real stuff. 
• The same goes for pineapple extract. Avoid the imitators and go for the real thing. You’ll really taste it in this recipe, so you want to use something high quality. If you can’t find it at the local grocery, it’s available online.
• Want even more flavor? You could add some rum extract for extra fun.
• Although you can get really awesome flavor by adding some chopped fresh pineapple to this dish, we don’t recommend it. Pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that keeps the fudge from setting up.
  

Pineapple Expressed

“This really does taste a like a Piña Colada cocktail,” I said. “All it needs is a little umbrella.”

“It tastes like sunshine,” said Mrs. Kitchen Riffs. “Powerful UV rays coming off this fudge.”

“Now you’re making me thirsty,” I said. “Maybe we should mix ourselves an actual Piña Colada to accompany our fudge.”

“I’m all for double dipping,” said Mrs K R.

Not to mention double sipping.

You may also enjoy reading about:

• Piña Colada Cocktail 
• Margarita Cheesecake Mousse
• Microwave Peanut Butter Fudge 
• Quick Lemon-Coconut Fudge
• Chocolate Fudge with Nutella 
• Atlantic Beach Pie
• Or check out the Index for more