When it gets to be this hot for this long, the best sort of cooking to do is that which requires no stove or oven or even microwave. Enter the icebox cake. A bit campy, a bit retro, and a whole lotta sugar adds up to a no-bake dessert that tastes like someone worked up a sweat when really it’s all about the assembly and some maneuvering of the stand mixer. When we invited Suzie and her family over for a Sunday dinner, I decided to make another attempt at perfecting this recipe after a questionable version I served to my niece and nephew (the best guinea pigs since Chester and Cookie).
The same concept that forms the base of this Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding recipe is at work for the icebox cake: a solid cookie is transformed into a soft cake-like consistency after several hours mingling with a pudding/cream concoction. This time around, I used a recipe for Biscoff cookies and Biscoff butter, which I ended up modifying because I wasn’t happy with an initial test run. (I replaced the cream cheese with mascarpone, and used homemade whipped cream rather than a store bought ‘whipped topping’ – both changes made for a vast improvement, as did some additional ‘soak’ time, which took away the crunchy edge that some of the cookies retained with just a few hours in the fridge.) If you need a solid summer dessert and don’t want to heat up the kitchen, try this one out.
(Upon further contemplation, I may save this one for the fall and holiday season, as the spicy ginger flavors of the Biscoff elements align better with the cozy comforts of that time.)
INGREDIENTS
2 8.8 oz packages Biscoff cookies
13.4 oz jar Biscoff cookie butter
5.1 oz box instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups of 2% milk
½ cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used 8 oz of mascarpone and this was so much better)
1 cup powdered sugar divided into two halves
3 cups heavy or whipping cream
METHOD
In a large bowl, add vanilla pudding mix and whisk in milk until combined. Put in fridge to set (can do the night before).
In another bowl, beat together butter, cream cheese or mascarpone, and ½ cup powdered sugar until combined – about 2 minutes.
In stand mixer, whip heavy cream and ½ cup powdered sugar until desired whopped cream consistency.
Blend vanilla pudding mix with mascarpone mix, then fold in whipped cream mix until well incorporated.
Drop 1/3 of pudding/cream mix into 9 x 13 casserole dish, then add one layer of Biscoff cookies in bottom of casserole dish in single layer.
Spoon cookie butter into a microwaveable glass measuring cup, heat in 20 second intervals until melted, stirring as you go. Drizzle 1/3 cookie butter over cookies.
Add another 1/3 of pudding/cream mix on top of cookie, then repeat layer of cookies and drizzle another 1/3 cookie butter over them, and add last 1/3 of whipped mix. Drizzle with remaining cookie butter and sprinkle with crushed Biscoff cookies as desired.
Refrigerate at least overnight to ensure a soft consistency.
