I can’t remember the last time I bought a tub of Cool Whip, but I know for a fact that when I did, it was because it was a required ingredient in something. I definitely haven’t bought it for topping desserts, because that’s what real whipped cream is for. One of the things that my daughter enjoys eating, but I don’t hardly ever make is those fluff-style desserts. I have a couple of them in my salad section in the Recipe Trove. Delicious and tasty, but they all start with Cool Whip as the base. But why don’t I use Cool Whip? Because it’s make-up is chemical, and dubious at best. This 12-Day Experiment shows a little what I mean, it’s just not something I want to be feeding my family with.
But this year for Thanksgiving I let each kid pick an item to add to the Thanksgiving menu. Abigail’s first request was for my Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce, which I make anyway. Then she thought a minute and asked if I could make that salad that had fruit in it and mini rainbow marshmallows and whipped cream. Ah. Millionaire Salad. One that starts with a tub of Cool Whip. I told her I’d make it, and added the ingredients to my shopping list, but paused when it came time to add the whipped topping. I thought about all those fluff type salads and desserts and tried to figure out if there was any reason why I couldn’t use real whipped cream instead. The only thing I could come up with was a lack of stabilizer in the whipped cream. That is remedied easily enough by adding a few tablespoons of powdered sugar (which is blended with a touch of corn starch). I decided I would just try it, and if it didn’t work out, I would add little serving bowls for the fruit salad soup on the menu.
The whipped cream worked beautifully. I beat up about 1 1/2 cups of cream and added about 3 tablespoons or so of powdered sugar while I beat it. Once it was nice and thick, I added my canned fruit and about a third of a packet of french vanilla instant pudding. (Have to figure out a good substitute for that yet!) The fluff turned out exactly how Abigail wanted and it made her very, very happy. The whipped cream held up beautifully. In fact, I still have a bit of it in the fridge and there is absolutely no weeping yet whatsoever four days later.
So the next time you see a recipe calling for Cool Whip, and you can’t decide if you should make it or not, just skip the all-artificial-one-molecule-away-from-plastic topping and reach for a carton of plain old heavy whipping cream and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. It works beautifully, and it is made with real ingredients- all of which you can pronounce.