When Life Hands You Lemons...
May 16, 2011
Don't make lemonade, make icebox cake. We got the news today that we need a new AC/heating unit, so I promptly realized that only chocolate and whipped cream could alleviate the pain of such news.
My mom used to make this when I was a kid. It takes no time and less skill, because even I can make it! I got the idea to do it when I found this version on the wonderful Smitten Kitchen cooking blog.
In its purest form, there are only two ingredients: Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers and whipped cream. Now when I saw whipped cream, I mean cream that has been whipped; I do not mean cream squirted out of an aerosol can or creme scooped out of a tub.
Deb of Smitten Kitchen actually makes her own chocolate wafers, for which I salute her. I am not so brave and daring, especially because my local food emporium actually carries the proper wafers. Yours may too -- don't give up if you can't find the delectable cookies in the cookie aisle; get your ass over to the ice cream aisle and look where they keep the sauces and ice cream cones. Voila!
You can see the traditional way of making this creamy confection on the box. To do it, you simply slather whipped cream in between the log of cookies, then cover the whole shebang.
But I like Deb's idea better. She really runs with it, using two boxes of wafers. But I only used one box, mostly because I didn't read her recipe very carefully. So my icebox cake only had five layers as opposed to her eleven.
So off you go -- whip up a pint of cream. Flavor and sweeten it if you must; I prefer mine in its purest, unadulterated state. Arrange seven cookies on a plate, thusly:
Slap a layer of whipped cream on there and smooth it over the cookies. Be generous! Don't skimp! Then, keep on layering cookies and cream until you have two cookes and a scoop of cream left.
End with a layer of whipped cream on top. What the hell, get fancy -- sprinkle some grated chocolate on top. Or sprinkle whatever you want on top! I'm actually planning to eat this with some fresh strawberries sliced all over it. Why? More to the point, why not? Regardless of how you plan to eat it, don't eat it yet. Put in the fridge for a few hours to let the cream soak into and soften the cookies. You can eat it tomorrow morning for breakfast.
Now, though, you need to deal with those leftover cookies. Mmmmm...