Lemon Berry Icebox Dessert it what I call a "better living through chemistry" recipe comprised mostly of convenience foods. Depending on where and when you grew up, it may appeal to you. One thing that's certain is the convenience foods allow you to easily cut the sugar and fat. For instance, the lemon pudding mix is sugar free, the French vanilla creamer is fat free and the Cool Whip is light. As a trade-off, you get all kinds of preservatives that dyes and ingredients common in American packaged foods. If you'd rather make every component from scratch, you sure can!
Lemon Berry Icebox Dessert Shapes
I've made this in many forms. If I'm using soft ladyfingers, I prepare it in a 9 inch round springform pan and stand half the ladyfingers around the sides as in a Charlotte Russe. Sometimes, I use pound cake and make it in a square or rectangular glass dish. For the ladyfingers, I've used everything from pound cake to Weight Watchers Lemon Snack Cakes! I'm not sure they make those anymore. Angel Food Cake would work.
Changing Flavors
One thing that's really fun with this concoction is changing it. You can use different cake (as mentioned above), change the berries, use a pudding mix other than lemon and a different flavor of liquid creamer. Back when I first started making this dessert there weren't nearly as many types of liquid creamer, but now there are some with better ingredient lists and more natural tasting flavors.
I'll update the photo soon. Maybe I'll try it with raspberries, vanilla pudding and "Mean Girls Limited Edition Pink Creamer".
Recipe
Lemon Berry Ice Box Dessert
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup cold water
- 1 packet plain Knox gelatin
- 2 packs (3 oz) each soft ladyfingers
- 3 cups blueberries, fresh
- ¾ teaspoon sugar
- 1 box Jell-O brand sugar free lemon flavored instant pudding (4 serving size)
- 1 ½ cups reduced fat milk
- ½ cup fat free reduced French Vanilla flavored liquid creamer
- 1 8 oz package Cool Whip Lite
- Garnish: lemon slices
Instructions
- Place cold water in a saucepan. Empty gelatin packet into water and let soften for 5 minutes. Heat water to boiling and turn off heat as soon as water begins to simmer. Stir to dissolve gelatin. Let gelatin cool for about 5 minutes.
- Split ladyfingers and stand them around side of a springform pan. Break up remaining ladyfingers and press them into bottom of pan. If using pound cake, just cut it in slices and lay it across the bottom of an oblong or square 2 qt glass pan.
- Put the berries in center of cake lined pan. Sprinkle with sugar.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat pudding mix, milk and liquid creamer for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add cooled gelatin/water mixture to pudding mixture and stir until smooth. Fold in 2 cups of the whipped topping.
- Pour lemon mixture over berries and chill for at least 5 hours or until set. If you are using frozen berries, you will need at least this much time for the berries themselves to thaw. So even if the dish appears set, the berries might not be thawed. When set, spread remaining whipped topping over top. Garnish with lemon slices or something else.
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