By Sara Crooks

When I think of an ideal summer dessert, a few adjectives come to mind: light, refreshing, and simple. Because let’s face it, who wants to stand in front of a hot oven when it feels like one outside?

A few years ago I discovered that three humble grocery store ingredients make a delicious base for summer desserts that can be interpreted in a myriad of different ways.

Here’s the basic formula cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, Cool Whip plus a flavor add-in. Pretty simple. The cream cheese provides the tang; the sweetened condensed milk the sweet creamy texture; the Cool Whip the body and fluff; and the add-in, the distinct flavor.

The beauty of this recipe is that it can be pantry-ready and can morph into whatever you need it to be. If you need to make it in advance, you can freeze it or simply leave it in the fridge. If you need something fancy, you can make a crumb crust and press it into a tart pan, or you can pick up a crust at the store. You can even use the base on it’s own.

Whether you mix the base with vanilla pudding and layer it with pound cake and strawberries for strawberry shortcake or hollow out lemons, pop some filling inside and freeze them for a fun mini dessert, the sky really is the limit. Recipes with options my favorite kind!

 

Base

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 flavor add-in (examples: peanut butter, vanilla pudding, frozen lemonade concentrate, cream of coconut, etc.)

1 12 oz. tub of Cool Whip

Beat the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together with a hand-held or stand mixer until combined and lump free. Mix in add-in. (If you’re using frozen limeade or lemonade concentrate, don’t let the mixture become soupy.) Gently fold in Cool Whip.

Banana Pudding

Add-in: 1 box (5 oz.) of vanilla instant pudding, prepared

 

Layer base with vanilla wafers or another shortbread type cookie (Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies are excellent) and bananas. Use any type of container you have on hand.

 

Fruit Trifle

Add-in: 1 box (5 oz.) of vanilla instant pudding, prepared

Pound Cake from the grocer’s freezer section or prepared angel food cake from the bakery (If you are using a large trifle bowl, you might need two loaves of pound cake)

Sliced Fruit strawberries, kiwis, and mango work best

 

Layer cake, then base mixture, then fruit, and repeat as many times as you are able, ending with the fruit layer, arranging it neatly on top. A glass trifle bowl or other glass vessel works best for this recipe because it showcases the layers. Garnish with mint and/or chopped macadamia nuts and toasted coconut for a tropical feel.

This version is best make at least 6 hours in advance and eaten within 24 hours.

 

Using Crusts

You can use a variety of ingredients to make simple crumb crusts from graham crackers, to pretzels, to chocolate goldfish. To make the task even easier, you can purchase a graham cracker pie crust right in the baking aisle.

To make your own graham cracker crust, mix 1 cups of finely crushed crumbs with 6 T. of butter. Press into pie or tart* pan using the back of a spoon or the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. Let cool completely before filling with mixture.

*Tart pans are simply metal pans, most often with fluted side and a removable bottom. You can pick them up at any cooking supply store and you can often find them at discount retailers. You can purchase mini tart pans or rectangle tart pans, like those pictured here, or you can pick up the traditional round or square tart pans. Once the tart is assembled, you remove the mold. It dresses up a simple pie and in most cases can be substituted for a pie pan.

 

Lemon or Lime Tarts

Add-in: 1 small can of frozen lemonade or limeade concentrate from the freezer section. Don’t let the mixture become soupy while you are combining the base. If it does, put back in the refrigerator for a while to firm up.

Fill pie or tart shell with mixture and ganish with additional Cool Whip and a lime or lemon slice. Chill at least 6 hours. Can be frozen and pulled out of freezer just prior to serving.

This filling is also great spooned into a hollowed out lime or lemon and frozen. You can also freeze it directly in a ramekin.

Peanut Butter Pie or Tart

Add-in: 1 cup of creamy peanut butter. Spoon filling into crust and freeze. When ready to serve, drizzle with chocolate sauce and top with roasted, salted peanuts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

{Sara Crooks is a native Oklahoman who is passionate about cooking, baking and design. She teaches the Cooking Skill Session in the updated Called to be a Keeper DVDs. Sara has been married to Michael for eleven years and has a son (7) and twin daughters (4).}

 

 

 

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