Blender Whipped Cream (oh yes...)

For those of you who have read previous posts, you'll remember that my family and I are staying in a furnished apartment in NC for the summer while my husband works a construction site here. So, it can be tough... but it's paid for... but I don't have anything I need.. .but it's free... but I miss my KitchenAid (dog, yard, clothes, etc.). Hmm. You can see the conflict. While I certainly shouldn't complain, it can be hard not having everything you need, especially when you're used to a fully stocked kitchen.

Case in point: the apartment complex provided us with two mixing bowls. Two. TWO! Now, a sane person would just wash out one of said mixing bowls whenever necessary but not I, dear reader. And as they say, "Laziness is the mother of invention!"

Yesterday, I wanted to make an icebox cake using some leftover cookies from this weekend and whipped cream. But as luck would have it, both mixing bowls were being used for leftover storage. That's when I got crafty. I knew I could make whipped cream in a food processor, but all I have currently is a blender. Could it work just the same? The answer is, yes!

Here's how: Start with your favorite whipping cream, preferably of the heavy variety. I know it can cost a teeny bit more, but it pays off in the end with a much creamier product. Also grab a little sugar and vanilla. In place of vanilla, you could also easily use another flavoring;  I've used bourbon, coffee, even strawberry jam to flavor my whipped cream in the past!







Dump the desired amount of cold cream into your blender. I wanted about 4 cups of whipped cream in the end so I started out with 2 cups (cream will double when whipped).

Remember: Cream whips MUCH better when everything is ice cold. That not only means your cream, but the blender as well. Try popping that baby into the freezer for a few minutes before you're ready to start whipping. It'll keep your cream happy and fluffy, promise.

 Cream also needs plenty of air to whip properly, so go ahead and remove that little plastic knob on the lid of your blender, leaving a hole. Just remember when you start blending to put your hand over the hole, covering it partially. Once you're confident the cream isn't going to splash out of the blender and all over you, you can go ahead and take your hand away. (Trust me on this one, my whipped cream pretty much blew up on me on my first go at this!)

At a high rate of speed pulse your blender, about 10 seconds
a time, until it starts to firm up. Every few pulses, make sure you stop to stir the cream with a spoon. Sometimes, cream can get stuck under the blades and you end up with butter- NOT delicious!

Now here's the magical part of this whole thing. After a few pulses, I ended up with fairly soft-set whipped cream. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I figured it was a good as it was going to get in my blender. So I removed the lid, added sugar and vanilla to taste, and stirred it with a large spoon. Suddenly, voila! The cream firmed up nicely, with medium stiff peaks- perfect for icebox cake. I'm not sure why, but it probably has something to do with the air that the cream was exposed to when I removed the lid and stirred.

And that's it! Super easy, super fast, and great if you're short on the "proper"mixing supplies. Enjoy!

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