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.
Looks DIVINE! And this pie book you speak of? Want. Now.
This is TOTALLY RAD! I am agog to try it.
I have a package of the strand-type agar agar they sell in the neighborhood Asian market. Do you know if grinding that up into powder will work the same as agar powder?
Sounds very cool. The best of cashews and coconut (and almonds) combined!
There is an awesome brand of whippable oat cream in Finland that’s indistinguishable from dairy cream. Too bad it’s quite full of nasty-sounding chemicals.
I think I love you. Honestly, as much as I am ashamed to admit it, Cool Whip was the last dairy product to go for me. Until a couple years ago, I’d hide it in the back of my fridge in shame.
Pie?!?! You’re writing a PIE cookbook?!?!?! OMG! Why did I sleep through that news? I jump around the room at the very thought! This also looks like the recipe I’ve been waiting for! Smooth, creamy whipped topping and I’m going to eat it as soon as I pick up some agar powder! Faerie unicorn tear magick indeed!
Yeah, could you give us an idea of the weight of agar used? Sounds awesome.
The weight of the agar? I don’t really understand why you would need the weight or how I would weigh 3/4 teaspoons of powder? Unless you’re joking.
Gotta say, I used to love Cool Whip back in the day…so of course I am digging this homemade vegan version! Thanks for sharing your recipe. ^_^
I feel a banoffee pie coming on… 😀
Yes, we have one in the pie book!
I did a coconut milk-only whipped cream with agar a couple years ago and do still love it, but I think I’d like the richness of cashews maybe a wee bit more. . . and this does look incredibly fluffy! Any ideas for how to sub for the sugar?
A little agave would be good.
Just curious: Why didn’t you use So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk instead of almond milk?
I always have almond milk on hand, but that would work, too.
Yay! my kids will love this in their hot chocolate.!
OK, can I just say I love you?
Always.
Bad ass!
Do you think it’d be ok to sub agar flakes for powder? If so, what amount? And then it’d need to simmer for 10-15 min right?
SOOO excited! Thanks for sharing!
Now off to make some pie and find agar…
I’m allergic to nuts, can I sub tempeh?
Sounds delish.
Can you whip it at the end with a stand mixer w/ whisk attachment?
I haven’t tried that but I think a hand mixer will work better because you can really get in there and whip up and down and get the sides and everything.
YAY! I can see myself eating the whole batch, hunched over the bowl with just a spoon, whispering softly to it like Gollum.
OMG! I can’t wait to try this! I always loooove cashew-based creaminess, and never get around to experimenting with it myself. I have no doubt that VEGAN COOL WHIP will inspire me to get busy with some cashews though 🙂
wait…you’re writing a pie book??? Suuuper excited=me!
Is this coconut milk from a can, or from the SO Delicious coconut based milk?
This looks awesome, can’t wait to try it! Also, so so excited for the pie book! any idea when it will come out?
Thanks! Some time in the Fall, probably October.
Ms. Isa you’re wicked awesome.
OMG pie……. You are awesomeness personified! Can’t wait for the pie book!
I have the same question as Sandi, since the thickness of the two types of coconut milks is different. Don’t know if it would make a big difference, but I’d like to try it exactly as intended before experimenting.
The So Delicious stuff would be “Coconut Milk Beverage.” It’s totally different, use coconut milk.
can i use sweetened almond milk?
For the person asking about agar powder weight, i’ve found that 1/4 tsp is about a gram. So 3/4 tsp would be about 3 grams.
It’s very light stuff.
I’m a food scale gal, this is why I know this seemingly useless bit of info. 😉
Hi Isa,
I tried it today and I think I must have done something wrong. It tastes great, but it didn’t fluff up very much. How much is it supposed to fluff up? It says at the top that it makes 6 cups – I don’t it think it increased in volume so much for me. Any idea what could have gone wrong?
Thanks,
A.
Sorry, it should say 4 cups. Can I see a pic of what it looked like? In testing we had problems with expired agar, but another thing is that it has to get very very cold. It’s possible that the next day it will fluff up more if you whip it again because it will be cold enough (if that was the problem.) It doesn’t have to stay very very cold the whole time, it just needs to get there for whipping.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll keep what’s left (as I said, it tastes delicious, so we’ve been eating it anyway) in the fridge overnight and try to whip it again tomorrow. I don’t think my agar was expired, it did get quite firm and then when I whipped it started to fluff up just a little bit (it kinda formed peaks), but it’s still pretty dense and definitely didn’t increase in volume very much.
Well, I’ll keep trying until I get it right because it tastes sooo much better than the soy-based whippable cream that is available in stores around here.
You can try melting in another Tbls of coconut oil, too…
how long will this keep in the fridge? i probably shouldn’t be eating 4 cups of rad whip by myself in one sitting.
Oh thanks for this recipe Isa and thanks for your comments Anna – I tried it this morning with the same results (tastes good but didn’t really increase in volume). I don’t have an electric hand held mixer, might try and borrow one. LOVE your work Isa!! Jody
Also I was slightly under with coconut oil running out and I reading your recent comment I guess that probably contributed!
I’m amazed at how little sugar you used in this recipe, I’m glad about it and hope my three year old will be too.
I could use some unicorn tear magic, I cannot get this stuff to fluff up! Not expired agar & very cold.
Can you post a pic?
yay! i seriously would eat cool whip by the spoon when i was a kid. so happy to have a vegan replacement!
i tried using my immersion blender with the whisk attachment at first but it didn’t fluff up very much, so i borrowed my neighbor’s hand mixer and it worked like a charm.
For people having probs: I think it is either an agar or a whipping issue. I have a few suggestions for the powdered agar:
1) Make sure that the liquid had come to a full boil so that the agar is definitely activated.
2) If it doesn’t seem to be stiffening up after whipping it with the hand mixer, put it back in the fridge and let cool and set again for a few hours or up to overnight. Then use a hand mixer again to whip it. If that still isn’t working…
3) Melt another tablespoon of coconut oil and slowly stream it into the whip with the hand mixer running. Mix it well and return to the fridge to set and then, once more, whip it up.
And if you’re mixing with anything other than a dual head hand mixer, I’m not sure it will get the mojo needed to whip up.
OK let me know if these help, there’s always some trouble shooting involved with a new recipe, but it DOES work, promise.
Just in the nick of time! I was going to go buy an expensive a can of it. Can’t wait to try it.
This blew my mind. And the minds of the 6 tasters until we licked our bowls clean and cried for more. I love you forever-never stop making our vegan world a tastier place!
Can this be made with roasted cashews, or does it specifically need raw cashews? i’ve never experimented with cashews and wanted some advice.
Anything labeled “cashews” is fine. They don’t have to be labeled raw. I think the ones just called “cashews” are not raw but heated in some way that is not roasted. I haven’t been able to get an exact answer from a reliable source so all I know is that they work!
Are we supposed to use unemulsified coconut milk?
Just made trifle with this, I’ll post a picture when I’m done and the unsuspecting Omni’s at the church auction have eaten it : ) Along with the Korma and a few other recipes of yours from VwaV!
Mine didn’t increase in volume much either. I only have a stand mixer so perhaps that’s why. The flavour was divine though, very slightly on the sweet side for my taste but that’s just me. And I solved that by putting it in the freezer and getting out some of the best ice cream ever! Thank you.
I have a stand mixer too, and it didn’t whip super crazy well, but after I tried the extra coconut oil trick and put it in the freezer for a little bit before the final whip, it went pretty well. I used it to make a vegan black forest cake, it’s looking pretty great! Thanks so much for this really awesome recipe!
Did you make the almond milk yourself? Did anybody try this with soy, rice or oat milk?
Does it get firm enough for nice decorations as in http://vegan.witscore.com/?p=431 ?
Thanks a lot 🙂
People! please post pictures ! I need to see what you are all talking about with this fluffing drama ! I hope mine fluffs up …
baaaaah so good! I had to chill mine initially for about an hour but it turned out so damn well!
WOW, this is AMAZING, soooo yummy, completely awesome. I had one little problem, which was that the agar agar I bought turned out to have sugar in it, like a ready-made-jello thing. I took a guess for the quantity, and I think I overdid it. It meant that after whipping, I could still detect some tapioca-like texture. Solution: I have a hand-held blender (immersion blender), and that, with some added almond milk, brought it into perfect smoothness. OMG, total nirvana.
Thank you Isa for this amazing recipe! I seem to be sticking to this vegan thing, and my husband has been happily going along for the ride, and really it is all thanks to your amazing recipes, I honestly wouldn’t have done it without your recipes. Thank you!