Home-Made Cool Whip

Out of Cool Whip and don’t have time to run to the store? Did you know there are recipes that are vegan-friendly, have all natural ingredients, are kosher, or are gluten-free?

• One vegan recipe can be found here and is thickened with agar powder. 
• Go here for the easier vegan recipe (uses 2 ingredients, canned coconut milk and sweetener).
• The kosher post found here lists several options.
• Go to this link for the gluten-free version. It uses xanthan gum instead of cornstarch or confectioner’s sugar (which has some cornstarch).
• The remaining home-made cool whip recipe is here and includes vegetable oil.

However, I didn’t want oil in my Cool Whip. Nor did I need a vegan, gluten-free, or kosher option so I kept looking for another alternative. I came across something called stabilized whipped cream.

You can stabilize the whipped heavy cream with a variety of ingredients. These include the following: high quality powdered milk, confectioners sugar, gelatin, a combination of the former ingredients, or with melted marshmallow. (Link is here.) There is even a recipe that adds cream cheese as the stabilizer.

I don’t remember where I found the original recipe. But there are many versions of the one I am sharing. Evidently it is a Wilton recipe.

The recipe I decided to try is below. It turned out tasty and acted just like Cool Whip in the dessert I made.

STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM
Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon unflavoured gelatin
• 4 teaspoons cold water
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (very cold)
• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar (sifted)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Combine gelatin and cold water in a small saucepan. Let stand until thick, about 10 minutes.
2. Put pan on stove and cook on low heat. Stir constantly until gelatin dissolves; about 3 minutes. Do not let mixture boil. The gelatin mixture will melt and look clear and smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly to body temperature.
3. NOTE. I put the gelatin and cold water in a small dipping bowl. After the mixture thickened I put it into the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until it got to the clear stage. This took about 1.5 minutes. It could take as long as 3 minutes depending on the wattage of your microwave.
4. Beat the cream, sugar, and vanilla until slightly thickened in a thoroughly chilled bowl using beaters that have also been chilled.
5. While beating, slowly add gelatin to the whipped cream mixture. Whip at high-speed until it forms stiff peaks.

Makes about two cups.

You can use the above recipes in place of Cool Whip. My home-made version did not weep or break down in the 24 hours it was in the fridge. I don’t know if it lasts longer because it was all eaten within the 24 hours.

Related Post

• Orange Stuff (aka Citrus Jello Salad): Put the home-made Cool Whip in here.
• Recipe Index