Cool Whip might be a familiar whipped topping to many, but do you actually know what it is? It's been around since 1966, and was extremely popular as soon as it was released. But what is Cool Whip, exactly, and what can you make with it?
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What is Cool Whip?
Cool Whip, or Cool Whip Original Whipped Topping, first came out in 1966 and was made by the Birds Eye division of General Foods, according to Wikipedia. Today, it's part of Kraft Heinz. It is the most consumed brand of whipped cream in America.
Kraft Cool Whip dessert topping is often sold in frozen plastic tubs and then refrigerated before it's served or used in recipes. It's made in Avon, New York, and the company has all sorts of flavors: Cool Whip Lite, Extra Creamy, Sugar-Free, Fat-Free, and more. Unfortunately, they don't have a dairy-free variety, but some versions are lactose-free. Reddi-Wip and Dream Whip are some of its competitors, but Cool Whip is definitely the most popular.
What's In It?
Any fl oz tub of the Original Whipped Topping has the following ingredients: water, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil (coconut and palm kernel oils), and skim milk. It contains less than 2 percent of light cream, sodium caseinate (from milk), natural and artificial flavor, xanthan and guar gums, modified food starch, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monostearate, sodium polyphosphate, and beta carotene (color). There's no gelatin, cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, or marshmallows, which some might figure go into the ingredient list given how Cool Whip tastes. Fortunately, total fat is kept relatively low by the choice of skim milk. Non-dairy lovers should note that caseinate also comes from milk, making Cool Whip a bit of a risky bet for dairy-sensitive folks.
What Can You Do With Cool Whip?
There are lots of recipes that use Cool Whip! For instance, Tasty lists a Strawberry Jell-O Funfetti Poke Cake that uses it, and Recipe Lion shared a No-Bake Strawberry Kool-Aid Pie and Key Lime Pie recipe. SheKnows has a raspberry and fudge ice cream recipe that uses it, and Taste of Lizzy T can help you make lemon cookies with the ingredient. Yum!
Even if you don't want to make a full recipe with the topping, you can also just slap a dollop of it on various dishes to improve them — especially desserts. Cheesecake, Oreo pies, peanut butter pie, pumpkin pie, or any number of dessert bars can only be made better with a little bit of this whipped cream dessert topping.
What do you like to put whipped topping on?
