Makes 4 cups
Omigod, Vegan Cool Whip! Yeah, there are a couple of good store-bought options these days but this is really fun, makes a ton and tastes incredibly fresh and creamy. It’s better than cool, it’s rad! Perfect for topping pies, puddings, ice cream sundaes, your finger, a spoon, and any place else whipped cream might be appropriate.
A few recipe notes: you blend this three times, once in the food processor or regular blender and then again with a hand mixer. Then it sets for a good long time and gets its final hand mixer whip. After it first sets in the freezer it looks a little rubbery and weird. Follow the directions and don’t be alarmed! It will magically and completely fluff up and smooth out when you blend it again, I promise. I’m telling you, this is faerie unicorn tear magick here.
The recipe also calls for agar powder. You can often find it in an Asian super market for really really cheap, but you can order it online as well. It’s really worth ordering, since it’s an interesting and easy ingredient to use – you can make mousses, gelatins and all sorts of fun stuff. Our pie book will be using it in quite a few recipes, so why not stock up now?
The only word of caution I can give you is not to over freeze during the first setting process. It should just be very cold, not frozen.
OK, go forth and whip!
Update: I changed the directions a bit to try and help with some of the problems people might have. The biggest changes are that there are now 3 whipping stages and longer setting periods.
1/2 cup cashews, soaked in water for at least two hours and up to overnight
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 cup plain unsweetened almond milk, divided
3/4 teaspoon agar agar powder
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons coconut oil plus 2 teaspoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
Place a large metal bowl in the freezer to chill, you’ll be using it to blend up the Rad Whip so make sure it’s big enough.
Drain cashews and blend in a food processor or strong blender with coconut milk and 1/2 cup almond milk, until completely smooth. Rub it between your fingers to make sure there is no graininess left, this could take up to 5 minutes depending on your machine.
In a small sauce pan, heat the other 1/2 cup almond milk, agar, and sugar. Bring to a boil, and let simmer another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the coconut oil and stir to melt. It’s important to make sure this doesn’t set while on the stovetop, so be sure to have the blender mixture ready.
Stream the warm mixture into blender or food processor with the machine turned on. Blend for about a minute on high to incorporate lots of bubbles, then add the vanilla and pulse to mix.
Transfer to the chilled metal bowl. Place in the freezer for about 30 minutes just to get it very very cold, but not frozen. When you remove it, it should be cold all the way through, and feel firm and even a bit rubbery. Don’t worry! You did everything right…watch in amazement as it transforms.
Now take a hand mixer and beat like mad. It should start to soften and peaks should start to form, but it might take a minute or so. Once it’s smooth and fluffy, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place back in fridge to set again for at least 3 hours*. Now use a hand blender one last time to get it even more fluffy.
*The longer you let it set, the fluffier it will get, so if you let it set at least 8 hours or up to overnight that is optimal.
Keep stored in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days.
This is lovely stuff. I ate half my first batch as cream and froze half in a little portion of ice cream. Two different but equal kinds of amazing.
For the next batch I’ll try subbing the coconut oil for cocoa butter as it occurred to me that it would then be an authentically divine vegan white chocolate mousse/pudding. Yum!
I’d recommend processed coconut oil for this as the extra virgin raw variety I had available left a strong coconut impression. Processed oil (a brand like KTC) has a lot of the flavour stripped out by the way it’s made. That seemed like a kind of cruel joke until I started using it for things like this.
I love coconut but its only place with sugar is drizzled over pancakes with palm sugar syrup.
At what point are the two mixtures combined?
Hey Miss Isa, how do you feel about subbing lite coconut milk for regular? Possible to do without having to add more oil or alter anything else? The last time I made your lost coconut custard pie I used lite and it came out fine.
Why didn’t I try this before now?! Thank you, Isa, for developing this incredible recipe. I just had this with your pumpkin pie, and I am in heaven. Thank you, thank you!
Amazing! Isa you rock!!! Thank you for figuring out the recipes for the foods and condiments that make life grand 🙂