Prep School Daily: DIY Cool Whip

Friday, October 30, 2020

DIY Cool Whip

As I wrote blogged about in July and August of 2020, garbanzo bean juice, also known as aquafaba, is just about one of the coolest things ever to happen to food storage. Not only does that garbanzo bean liquid, which is often discarded as a thing of naught, become a perfect egg white substitute when whipped, it also makes a delightful chocolate mousse. That chocolate mousse is reason alone to sing aquafaba’s praises.

But wait! There’s more!

Shortly after that first post on garbanzo bean juice, I stumbled across a recipe for making a Cool Whip substitute using aquafaba. Admittedly, I have never been a fan of Cool Whip, well, not in the past 30 years, anyway. Have you ever read the list of ingredients for it? It’s all fake stuff. It shouldn’t be in food at all. So I haven’t made any desserts with Cool Whip in a Very Long Time. But there was that one dessert, back in college….

Karin, one of my Russian House roommates, made it when it was her night for dinner. We all loved it, some for the name, some for the dessert itself. As this is a blog sometimes read by family members, I can’t share her actual name for it. I ran across the same recipe a year or so later, and that cookbook called it Politician’s Dessert. Trust me, this dessert does not deserve such a nasty name, so I will rename it, as you will see below. Anyway, the recipe calls for Cool Whip, which I refused to buy, so I haven’t made this dish in 30 years.

I did consider making it about 25 years ago, when I tried a food storage recipe substitute for Cool Whip. It was an involved process using nonfat dry milk as the basis. And while it may have worked for some people, it never worked for me. Beating nonfat dry milk powder (and the other ingredients) even for 10 minutes is not going to produce Cool Whip. But this? Ho ho…… Yeah, this works.

Aquafaba Cool Whip (makes the equivalent of a small container of Cool Whip)

1/2 cup aquafaba from 1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans (save the beans for another recipe, perhaps hummus)

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup powdered sugar*

1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

Pinch salt

1 tablespoon oil (optional)

Pour the aquafaba into a medium mixing bowl and add cream of tartar. Beat on high until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Add the sugar, salt, and extract and beat on high until fluffy white peaks form, about 2 more minutes. Fold in oil, if desired, and serve immediately or freeze for later use.

OK, I wouldn’t call this a perfect Cool Whip substitute, but it works pretty well, especially if you don’t add the oil at the end. In my experience, the light, airy texture of the aquafaba Cool Whip is much better before the oil is added. However, it tastes a bit better after the oil is added. So it’s a toss-up.

*Note. Most store-bought powdered sugar contains cornstarch to prevent clumping. In some recipes, however, the off taste of the cornstarch comes through, and this is one of them. If you make your own powdered sugar from granulated sugar (buzz it in a food processor for a little bit), your aquafaba Cool Whip will taste much better.

Prep School Daily’s Decadent Pudding Dessert

Crust:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Cream cheese layer

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

6 ounces Cool Whip (3/4 of the small container, about 3 cups homemade)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Chocolate pudding layer

1 1/4 cups milk

1 small package instant chocolate pudding (or use Magic Mix pudding recipe)