Hello peeps. I hope you all enjoyed the FREE paid newsletter two weeks ago, a letter I affectionately call Savory Snackable Bakes, as its contents are focused exclusively on the cookbook I’m presently writing of the same name. The paid letter includes an exclusive recipe from the new book and more! Hope you’ll consider subscribing. It costs $50/year ($5/month) and is delivered to your inbox the first Tuesday of every month . . . (in case you were curious about the deets).
In other news, I think we can all agree that it’s been just a tad toasty in kind of a lot of places as of late and in deference to the heat, this letter is all about no-bake treats - aka those that don’t require turning your oven on (you’re welcome).
First, up is a classic icebox cake - although mine uses a secret ingredient in the whipped cream to make it even tastier: sweetened condensed milk.
Icebox cakes are near and dear to my heart and I actually wrote an entire book about them. Icebox cakes, for the uninitiated, are cakes made with nothing more than cookies and whipped cream - the two are layered together and chilled in the fridge for several hours, during which time the cookies absorb the cream and turn cake-like. It’s literal magic, so I’d suggest you get on it. And if you want to go crazy with icebox cakes, here’s a list of my faves.
Icebox cakes and I have been in the news a bit as of late, as both National Public Radio and Food52 contacted me to discuss the discontinuation of the classic chocolate icebox cake cookie, the Nabisco Chocolate Wafer. I’m pretty sure both outlets reached out to me specifically due to my aforementioned (and first!) cookbook, Icebox Cakes. You can listen to me on NPR here and read all about what I said to Food52 right here.
Both outlets wanted to know what I suggest that one substitute for the now-defunct wafer cookie and I suggest Oreo Thins. I explain it all in this video:
Making homemade chocolate wafers is always an option - which Brian Hart Hoffman of Bake From Scratch Magazine and I did last night. We taught a class together sponsored by Williams Sonoma - and it was a sweet ending to the baking retreat I participated in with Bake From Scratch in Birmingham, AL.
I made a version of this chocolate peanut butter no-bake pie with Brian for the Williams Sonoma class - and if you’d like to make it, try substituting Oreo Thins for Nabisco Wafers. This cake is a winner all round - what with its crispy chocolate press-in crust, its thick, salty-sweet peanut butter filling and its loads o’ billowy chocolate frosting on top - when you serve this you will have plenty of takers, I guarantee it.
And there is another, no-bake dessert that I just adore which is a Baked Alaska: we’re talking ice cream and cookie crumbs (or cake) layered together and covered in toasted meringue. I was lucky enough to talk about Baked Alaska (aka no-bake Alaska), on my podcast, She’s My Cherry Pie with pastry chef extraordinaire - and my beloved pal - Caroline Schiff, who is famous for her Baked Alaska at the iconic Brooklyn restaurant Gage & Tollner. She makes assembling her BA at home seem easy, which is just fab in my book.
One way to deal with not having to turn on your oven (besides making no-bake desserts) is to bake in someone else’s kitchen - and I had the chance to do just that a couple of weeks ago with the hosts of New York Living TV on WPIX-TV. We made a vanilla peach upside down cake and it was a damn good time - and no, I did not stick my tongue out while the cameras were rolling.
Another no-bake pie that might give you childhood ice cream truck memories (that is if you happened to visit ice cream trucks when you were little and happened to dig the iconic creamsicle bar) is my no-bake orange CREAMSICLE pie from Snackable Bakes. You can find the recipe here. The pie calls for a pretzel crust (delicious, if you’ve never had one) and is filled with a luscious orange filling that calls for a little orange juice concentrate, heavy cream and cream cheese (hence the creamsicle vibes) and is dolloped with whipped cream.
And if you’d like that whipped cream to be “extremely special” check out my recipe for stabilized whipped cream here (it includes another secret ingredient – marshmallows!).
Peter Som, fashion designer, culinary creator, lifestyle expert and my friend (💕) featured my love of marshmallows in his column, “PS.Qs,” over on his website and that was pretty exciting. He asked for a photo of me for the site, and I picked the below one, which showcases my love of marshmallows and RKTs (rice krispies treats).
Finally, if you’re eager to hear about what is happening with my baking podcast, She’s My Cherry Pie, we’re in the process of recording Season 3! It’s been such a thrill to dig deep into the baking recipes of such icons, as Christina Tosi, amongst so many others.
Alright, that’s it peeps: stay cool, enjoy the no-bakes and see you in August.
I love that photo with the wine in one hand and the giant RKTs in the other!