Coconut Cream Pudding Shot

Coconut pudding mix, cream of coconut, and Malibu — Malibu (Barbados, 1980) the first widely distributed coconut rum liqueur, the set pudding a pie-adjacent shot.

Coconut cream pie has been a staple of American diners and home kitchens since the early 20th century, when packaged pudding mix and canned cream of coconut made the dish accessible without requiring from-scratch custard technique. The combination of creamy coconut filling, vanilla wafer or pastry crust, and whipped cream topping became standard diner menu fare across the country by mid-century. Malibu coconut rum entered the picture in 1980, produced in Barbados and owned originally by the International Distillers & Vintners company before passing through Allied Domecq to its current owner, Chivas Brothers/Pernod Ricard. Malibu was the first widely distributed coconut-flavored rum liqueur in the American and European markets, blending Caribbean white rum with natural coconut flavor to create a product lower in alcohol and sweeter than straight rum, designed specifically for mixed drinks and beach-bar culture. The brand became a defining spirit of the 1980s and 1990s cocktail scene, appearing in everything from Piña Coladas to Lava Flows to shooters. The Coconut Cream Pudding Shot uses coconut pudding mix, cream of coconut, and Malibu to recreate the flavor of the diner dessert in shot format, then chills and sets it in small cups. The texture of the set pudding and the concentrated coconut flavor produce a result that is unmistakably pie-adjacent — a dessert served in a shot glass rather than a slice.