Every year we made an icebox cake for Christmas. My daughter wrote all about it in her tradition story project at school. That’s when I got scared. This was the first year with the kids being wheat, egg, and dairy free. How was I going to make a gluten-free and vegan cake without the Nabisco cookies and whipped topping? I couldn’t break the tradition. See how sweet they are making this cake! My son was 2 here.

Last Christmas, we traveled to Florida to see my mother-in-law, so my husband and I went to the local Walmart on Christmas Eve, in attempt to get Christmas gifts and the ingredients to recreate the treasured icebox cake.  Peace & Calming to the rescue; seriously it helped me survive the crowds and chaos! I deserved the mother of the year award for a trip to Walmart, followed by Toys “R” Us on Christmas Eve!

While at Walmart, I bought Pillsbury Best Multi-Purpose Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend, Smart Balance (Vegan Butter), and Hershey’s Cocoa Powder. I was sincerely surprised at how delicious and crisp these gluten-free vegan chocolate wafers were, and very inexpensive! FYI,  I don’t recommend the heavy coconut cream from Wal-Mart, it has tons of sugar and water, because of the dilution it doesn’t whip well – it tastes like marshmallows. I prefer the Trader Joe’s Brand or Tai Kitchen full-fat coconut cream. Or, if you’re lazy, you can use the CocoWhip!, but it will taste more like Cool Whip.

Since it was Christmas, my mother-in-law requested that I try to stick to traditional cane sugar and cocoa powder instead of cacao and coconut sugar. I get it, she didn’t want to “ruin” the cookies with my typical healthier experimentation. I’ll have to experiment another time and report back!

Regardless, my mother-in-law (who had wanted to go buy the Nabisco cookies and make her own separate cake) declared, “These are really really good! Are you going to put these on your blog? You should!” I take that as a vegan gluten-free win!

Chocolate Wafer Cookies (Gluten-Free  & Vegan)

• 1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces) gluten-free all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (2.4 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons vegan butter, slightly softened (I used Smart Balance)
• 3 tablespoons coconut cream or full-fat coconut milk (I prefer Trader Joe’s brand)
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine the gluten-free flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
2. Using a pastry cutter, scoop 1 tablespoon of vegan butter at a time into the bowl, continually combining with the pastry cutter as you incorporate each tablespoon. (If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you could put them in a Vitamix or a food processor).
3. Combine the coconut cream and vanilla in a small cup.
4. Add the liquid mixture and continue to combine with the pastry cutter until it is fully combined.
5. Knead a few times to make sure that it is evenly blended with your hands.
6. Transfer the dough onto a cutting board lined with wax paper or foil.
7. Form the dough into a log about 14 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter.
8. Wrap the log in wax paper or foil and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour, or until needed.
9. Place your oven racks on the top and bottom slots.
10. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
11. Using a pastry cutter (the Betty Crocker with measurements printed is great for this), slice the cookies as thinly as possible.
12. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper approximately 1 inch apart. The first time I placed them too close like this and they grew together but were easily separated. The next time I placed them 1 inch apart and they were perfect.
13. Cook for 6 minutes on the top rack of the oven. After 6 minutes, transfer them to the lower rack and cook for another 6 – 9 minutes.

Makes ~60 cookies if you slice them very thin. What’s good about these cookies is that they are flat at the bottom and are perfect for making an icebox cake!

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Icebox Cake (Gluten-Free & Vegan)

Ingredients:

• Chocolate Wafers
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 can coconut cream or full-fat milk  (refrigerated overnight)

Directions:

1. First, make the vegan coconut whipped cream. Since I made this dairy free, I used 1 can coconut cream (you can also use full-fat coconut milk) that had been in the fridge overnight and ¼ cup powdered sugar. Mix with a mixer on high until fluffy. If you don’t have a good mixer, you can use a Vitamix, or put your metal bowl in the freezer before whipping the cream.
2. Then, ice your gluten-free vegan chocolate wafers and create a stack of cookies.
3. After four sandwich cookies lay them on a wax paper covered tray, and continue to put a layer of whip cream on each chocolate wafer, lay it down on the tray creating a row of cookies. Repeat this for three rows. If you’re fancy you can try to make a design – like a Christmas tree with your icebox cake, but I’d try traditional rows for the first time.
4. Carefully push the chocolate wafer rows together with a cookie inside the filling of another. Then, smooth the vegan whip cream around the entire outside of the cookies.
5. The icebox cake needs to sit overnight. The wafers will soak up the cream and become soft. Note how the chocolate wafers absorb the coconut cream.
6. So in the meantime, the kids didn’t want to wait. I took extra chocolate wafers, put them in a cupcake liner, topped them with coconut cream, and enjoyed them right away! They are little mini-icebox cupcakes!

What are some of your favorite holiday food traditions or recipes?

Inspiration: https://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/homemade-chocolate-wafers-icebox-cupcakes/. I adapted her recipe to make it gluten and dairy free (vegan) and changed the directions.

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