There will be plenty of dollops of Cool Whip plopped on various desserts, salads, pies and cakes during this Easter weekend.
It’s unusual that I’m referring to a highlighted ingredient by brand name in this column.
I’ve spent the past three decades usually doing just the counter approach, as impressed upon by my editors to abide by the fair tactic in journalism to not provide favoritism to certain brands. For the more than 1,000 recipes published in cookbooks and printed in my columns, I’ve had to substitute the generic term for Cool Whip in ingredient listings for any recipes including this product. The generic term is a far more cumbersome and long string of words: non-dairy frozen whipped topping, thawed.
My recipe today is from my older sister Pam for her simple box cake mix cookie batter for a delicious, moist cookie which includes Cool Whip as the secret ingredient.
Cool Whip, invented in 1966, is four years older than me since I was born in 1970. The product was unveiled by the Birds Eye brand, a division of General Foods, all of which are now owned under the umbrella of General Foods.
Food scientist William A. Mitchell of Minnesota, who died at age 92 in 2004, invented Cool Whip as a frozen staple rival to fresh whipped cream, the latter being far more labor-intensive to prepare and preserve for use as both an ingredient and garnish. Mitchell is also the inventing mind who created Tang for the NASA space program, Pop Rocks to crackle in the mouths of eager youths with an adventurous sweet tooth and powdered egg whites for simplified ease when whipping up instant meringue.
Mitchell held more than 70 patents during his lifetime according to Smithsonian Magazine.
Cool Whip, invented in 1966, was a product unveiled by Birds Eye brand, a division of General Foods created by food scientist William A. Mitchell as a frozen stable rival to fresh whipped cream. (Kraft Foods Archive/provided)
Sold in plastic tubs (often later repurposed in households for food leftovers storage) up until 2018, Cool Whip was marketed as a “non-dairy product.” In recent years, skim milk was added to the ingredients as well as light cream and sodium caseinate, the latter of which is a milk derivative. In Jewish faith and food practices, even before 2018, Cool Whip was also classified as “a dairy product” because of the ingredient sodium caseinate.
My sister Pam likes to use a yellow cake mix, but she has found any flavor of choice works just as well with delicious results.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa @comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.
Pam’s “Cool” Cookie Recipe
Makes 2 dozen cookies
1 carton (8 ounces) Cool Whip, thawed
1 egg
1 box (14 ounces) yellow cake mix
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup ground pecans
1 cup pecan halves
Directions:
1. Combine 1/2 cup of ground pecans with cake mix in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add egg and fold in Cool Whip and mix well until smooth.
3. Drop batter by heaping teaspoon on cookie sheet and garnish each cookie with one pecan half.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.
