Nutter Butter Icebox Cake

It’s summer. It’s hot. I’m seeing lots of “no bake” recipes pop up on Pinterest and blogs. I agree. Let’s not bake today. Let’s look for an excuse to buy Nutter Butters instead. And an excuse to make whipped cream.

You’d think one wouldn’t need an excuse to buy Nutter Butters and make whipped cream, both are delicious beyond compare. However, this redhead has no impulse control when it comes to Nutter Butters and whipped cream, which explains why I finished off the leftover whipped cream by scrapping it out of the bowl with the leftover Nutter Butters. I believe when I was a teenager I referred to that as a “snack.” I should probably refer to it more as a “relapse” these days.

Are you familiar with icebox cake? Are you familiar with Southern style banana pudding? You know, the kind with vanilla wafers? Well then you are familiar with icebox cake.

The idea is simple: just layer a pudding or mousse with cookies top with whipped cream and let sit in fridge. The cookies become soggy as they soak up the moisture from the pudding, which sounds gross, but would you call an Oreo cookie dipped in milk gross? The texture of a soggy sandwich cookie is oddly attractive, like cold pizza or Kristen Stewart.

You might be tempted to buy Cool Whip instead of making your own whipped cream. I mean, after all, you’re already using pre-made cookies and pudding mix. But please, for the love of all things dairy, MAKE THE WHIPPED CREAM. There’s nothing like homemade whipped cream and it’s so simple to make! Wait, you don’t have a stand or a hand mixer? Well crap. You should probably buy the whipped cream then.

The original recipe calls for breaking the Nutter Butters into pieces, but I always preferred to layer them whole and break as needed to fit the pan. Speaking of pan, you don’t necessarily need to make this in one pan. If you want to be fancy, you could always make these in individual glasses for a party.

Nutter Butter Icebox Cake
by Cookies & Cups

Ingredients
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup ice-cold water
1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant chocolate pudding
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3 cups coarsely chopped Peanut Butter sandwich cookies (such as Nutter Butter)

extra cookies (sometimes I use minis) and whipped cream for garnish

Directions
Whip your heavy cream on medium high until soft peaks form, about 1 1/2 minutes. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together sweetened condensed milk and water until combined. Add in chocolate pudding and whisk vigorously for 5-6 minutes until mixture becomes thick. Fold in your whipped cream into the pudding mixture and stir until completely incorporated.

In a 2.8 qt casserole dish or 9×9 pan, spread 1/3 of the pudding mixture on the bottom. Top with a layer of cookies. Repeat this process again and finish with pudding mixture.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but works just as well to make night before.

When ready to serve, top with more whipped cream and cookies.

Tags: chocolate, cold desserts, Nutter Butter, peanut butter, pudding mix, whipped cream