Cool Whip

"Dee Randall" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Dee, Cool Whip is a non-dairy whipped topping that is sold frozen in a plastic tub. Of all the non-dairy toppings I've tasted, it's probably one of the tastiest, although no equal to real whipped cream.

For many years Cool Whip came in only one variety. Now there is Lite Cool Whip (fewer calories), Extra Creamy Cool Whip, and even Chocolate Cool Whip. There may be more varieties than I know of.

HTH Wayne

Cool Whip is a frozen non-dairy whipped topping. It's the stuff I grew up with and I have a nostalgic fondness for it, although I haven't tasted it in years and I've moved on to real whipped cream. It's not bad as far as substitutes go, but it's full of chemicals which you really don't need to ingest. Regular, sweetened, flavored and/or stabilized whipped cream can often be substituted in recipes calling for CoolWhip, although you might want to skip or modify such recipes since they'll often contain plenty of other highly processed foods.

As for making Cool Whip yourself, I seem to recall a powdered product called "Dream Whip" that you ... er ... whipped up yourself at home which was very similar. Don't know if it's still available ... hmm, it is, at least according to Kraft's website. But other than another chemically-laden substitute, I wouldn't expect you'd be able to produce something just like Cool Whip at home.

Anyway, I'd skip both of them and critically evaluate any recipe containing CoolWhip to determine whether "real" foods could be substituted with similar results.

Hm ... my bias against highly processed foods is showing. :)

-j

Anyway, I'd skip both of them and critically evaluate any recipe containing CoolWhip to determine whether "real" foods could be substituted with similar results.

Hm ... my bias against highly processed foods is showing. :)

-j

I think I've never cooked with CoolWhip for the reasons you have given, as they always seem to have an ingredient I don't have, or something about the recipe is not to my liking.

I have the same bias. Thanks for answering. I'm glad to know that I'm not missing anything.

Dee

You can always substitute real whipped cream for Cool Whip.

Cool Whip is a first cousin to non-dairy coffee creamers. This class of products contains hydrogenated tropical oils and saturated fat. If you like them, that is a personal thing. I see little to recommend them. I don't think they taste very good - certainly not like real whipped cream. Cool Whip has a strange chemical taste, probably from the artificial vanilla flavor that it contains. I don't have whipped cream very often, maybe twice a year. I would rather have the real thing. You can stabilize whipped cream if you want to use it in pastries.

Think imitation sweetened whipped cream. I just made this pie using 1 pint whipping cream, whipped and sweetened:

{ Exported from MasterCook Mac }

10-Minute German Sweet Chocolate Pie

Recipe By: Serving Size: 1 Preparation Time: 0:00 Categories: Desserts

Amount Measure Ingredient Preparation Method

4 oz. German¹s Sweet Chocolate 1/3 cup milk 2 Tbsp. sugar 3 oz. cream cheese softened 3 1/2 cups Cool Whip 8 ² crumb crust (Johnson¹s prepared crust)

Heat chocolate and 2 Tbsp. of the milk in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until chocolate is melted. Beat sugar into cream cheese; add remaining milk and chocolate mixture and beat until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip; spoon into crust. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours. Garnish with chocolate curls, if desired. Store leftovers (hah!!) in freezer.

Makes 6-8 servings. Chris and Becky love it. Chocolate crust is good.

????? Notes: Source: Cool Whip container, November, 1980.

Per serving (excluding unknown items): 444 Calories; 32g Fat (64% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 104mg Cholesterol;

291mg Sodium Food Exchanges: 1 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fruit; 6 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates

_____

Not really. It's a miracle of chemical ingredients combined to simulate the taste of sweetened whipped heavy cream.

Do you think that's because of how it tastes, Matt, or perhaps other reasons. Cool Whip might be desirable because it is stored frozen and can be thawed and refrozen. It's easily stored in the freezer without concern for an expiration date (that a pint of whipping cream in the fridge would have). And it's convenient in that it doesn't require whipping. I just posted a pie recipe. Interestingly, using the whipped cream was faster -- I didn't have to wait to thaw it as I would have if I'd had the Cool Whip around.

And it looks like Strawberry flavor is coming for spring and summer, per the Kraft page on CW.

Because of your top posting it is really hard to determine your position. I will assume that your are quite enthusiastic about Cool Whip. Of course, that's your right as it is mine to prefer real whipped cream. I would point out that there are lots of products that sell like mad, but that doesn't make them superior. For instance, Velveeta is quite popular because it is cheap, melts well, and doesn't require refrigeration until it is opened. My supermarket regularly puts entire skids of the stuff down the main isle at room temperature when it is on special. Does that make Velveeta superior or more acceptable than cheddar cheese. I think not. I also believe that "most people" don't have a clue about nutrition, and the relationship between saturated fat and cholesterol. How many people do you suppose prefer non-dairy creamer over real cream because they think it is a healthy choice? How many just like being able to have a jar of the stuff on the table and not have to worry about refrigeration and expiration dates? Many people think that margarine is more acceptable than butter, but that isn't the case from a medical point of view. I suppose that you really like Tang over real orange juice? After all, millions of jars have been sold. By the way, do you have a source for claims about people's preferences for Cool Whip?

I don't much like Cool Whip, but I think the 'chemical' taste doesn't come from the artificial vanilla. Cook's Illustrated does blind taste testing, and when they tasted vanilla against vanillin, not one taster could tell the difference!

I think other things in the mixture have to do with the weird taste.

You might be right. However, as I recall, the CI test concluded that you couldn't tell the difference when using vanillin in cooked/baked items but they recommended using real vanilla in things like whipped cream that aren't heated. One thing for sure it that there is a strange taste to Cool Whip. I also think it is too sweet.

Over the holiday season I sampled some rum punch which had an overly generous amount of Cool Whip added. I thought it was terrible. Thick gooey stuff. Could almost cut it with a knife.

Besides, I couldn't taste the rum. Bah humbug!

Cool Whip is a convenience food as far as I'm concerned. It's in the same category as Tang, boxed macaroni and cheese, instant mashed potatoes, and powdered soup mix. If you value convenience over flavor, then these are the right products. However, they don't match the real thing for flavor.