Print the recipe card! homemade cool whip
Get a load of this ultra “cool” recipe, my friends! This whipped topping is 100% fat free (on top of being rid of all the crap-ola found in store bought Cool Whip), made with all shelf stable ingredients and drum roll please… can (under the right weather conditions) be made without electricity!! Did I mention it’s simple too? So so simple. It takes a total of 15 minutes of prep time. Ten of those minutes are spent beating the milk, which I count toward arm toning exercise, so that brings it down to a mere 5 minutes of “cooking” 🙂
My kids love this “Cool Whip” –and I don’t mind them eating it — so we’re all happy!
yeilds about 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
1 tsp. Knox unflavored gelatin
2 tsp. cold water
3 TBS boiling water
1/2 cup ice water
1/2 cup powdered nonfat milk
3-4 TBS sugar (depending on taste)
1 tsp. clear vanilla *see note
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Tools needed:
Rotary Egg Beater *see note
Instructions:
Chill a small metal mixing bowl by putting it in the freezer for 10 minutes (so it’s really good and cold). Separately, soften the 1 tsp gelatin with 2 tsp. cold water. Add 3 TBS boiling water to the gelatin and stir until completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.
In the chilled metal bowl combine the powdered milk and ice water. Beat on high speed until the mixture forms stiff peaks (about 10 minutes if mixing by hand). Add sugar, 1 TBS at a time (beating in between each addition), then add gelatin. Chill in the freezer about 10 min., then transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use. Stir until creamy and enjoy!
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Preparing the gelatin…
The amazing powdered milk transformation…
10 minutes later — beating only powdered milk and ice water (and getting a good arm workout) — we have (somewhat) stiff peaks…
Now add in the sugar, gelatin and vanilla and chill the whole mix in the freezer for about 10 minutes followed by the refrigerator until ready to use.
After being chilled it looks like this…
Mix again until creamy.
Go get yourself a spoon and enjoy!
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Notes:
- The rotary egg beater I have is by OXO (here it is on Amazon).
- You can buy clear vanilla at specialty kitchen or craft stores in the cake decorating isle (I found it at Michaels) or you can of course use just regular vanilla if you don’t care about it not being entirely white.
- Okay, so let’s talk about making this off the grid. Besides the $20 egg beater, you’d need some freezing temperatures (snow on the ground would be great) in order to chill your bowl/mixture and to make ice for the ice water. For some of us that’s easy, for others of us it’s not. Either way, this is an awesome recipe to use today in keeping your dry milk rotated.
- You can try adding in some Heavy Cream Powder to the dry milk mixture (to add flavor and creaminess), if desired.
[…] based/ acidic sauces where evaporated milk will separate if used), added into hot chocolate mix, pantry made whipped cream, etc. I did make butter with it once, but only to see if it was possible. {Not the best option […]
How does this hold up? I like cool whip only bc of it’s stability factor. I prefer homemade whipped cream but it is way too fragie/ I am looking for somethingt o replace cool whip. Crossing my fingers that this is strong enough.
It’s not going to hold it’s shape the exact same as cool whip, it’s more like homemade whipped cream in that respect. Using an electric mixer you’ll be able to whip more air into it (as opposed to what you see here, made whipped by hand), but even with that it’s not going to be quite as firm as cool whip but it’s as close as you’re going to get with pantry ingredients. Oh and one more thing, for best results it needs to be served right away.
Hope that helps 🙂
I finally found some time to make this Cool Whip, and it is delicious! I like that it is nonfat. I am eager to see how it is after freezing. Thanks so much.
I have been using an identical recipe for awhile, except that it has the addition of oil. I like the sound of yours better! May I ask what brand of nonfat milk you use? (I was using the instant milk from Thrive, but after they reformulated it, it doesn’t whip up very well.) Also, have you tried freezing your Cool Whip? If so, how well does it hold up? Thanks so much!
The powdered milk I use is called Grandmas Country Cream. I really like it! To me it’s the best one out there — you should definitely give it a try. No, I haven’t tried freezing the cool whip. My guess is that it would take on extra moisture and not turn out so well but that’s just a guess. Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you so much for the powdered milk tip. Do you mind me asking where you purchase it? I have been looking for a good brand.
Sure, here’s a link. It’s quite expensive to ship (being so heavy) so if you’re anywhere near UT you can also drive to the store itself and pick it up to save money, especially if you’re looking at buying a lot. We were actually living in CA when we bought our full supply so the drive (even that far away) cost wise was worth it for how much we saved in shipping.
http://www.grandmascountryfoods.com/CountryCreamPowderedMilk/
Wonderful! I really appreciate your help.
My pleasure! Good luck with that. Come back and let me know what you think!