ISO: ingredient questions: Orange creamsicle bars

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monj

Well-known member
Was asked if I could bring a "fun, summery dessert" by nephew and wife. Not a dessert maker generally, so I'm mystified why they chose that for me, lol. 10 ppl. . Wondering if there's a substitute for orange concentrate? probably not but thought I'd ask our kind swappers. My grocery store doesn't carry it, unless it's in a giant tube. We don't drink OJ, so it would sit for a good long time. Does 8 oz frozen topping equate to 8 oz real whipped cream with stabilizer? I dislike the CW fake ingredients. Any suggestions are welcome. :) TIA!

www.tasteofhome.com

Orange Creamsicle Bars

Cue the ice cream truck melody! These orange creamsicle bars have nostalgic flavor in an easy, no-bake dessert.
www.tasteofhome.com www.tasteofhome.com

ingredients​

  • 1 package (12 ounces) vanilla wafers, crushed
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
  • 2-1/2 tablespoons orange gelatin
  • Fresh orange slices, candy orange slices, orange zest or additional orange juice concentrate, optional


Directions​

  1. In a small bowl, combine wafer crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom of parchment-lined 8-in. square baking dish; freeze until set.

  3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, 2-3 minutes. Add confectioners' sugar, orange juice concentrate, vanilla extract and salt; beat until smooth, 2-3 minutes, scraping sides as needed. Fold in 1-1/2 cups whipped topping until well incorporated.
  4. Divide filling in half. Spread one half over crust.
  5. Add orange gelatin to the remaining filling; beat at medium speed until slightly thickened, 1-2 minutes. Gently spread over cream cheese layer. Top with remaining 1-1/2 cups whipped topping. Cover; refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
  6. Using the edges of the parchment paper, remove from pan. Cut into bars. Garnish with orange slices, candy, orange zest or additional orange juice concentrate before serving, if desired.
 
Isn't that just canned frozen orange juice found in the freezer section? It's always known as concentrate because the viewing public might try and drink it straight without adding water. Let it thaw just a bit and you can scoop out your three Tbl.
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The orange gelatin will be in the Jello section. Try NOT to use the sugar-free version. It won't hurt if you do, but I can always taste a subtle difference. Also, 2.5 TLB will measure differently between a box with real sugar and one with artificial sweetener.

I would buy a pint of heavy cream and then whip 1 cup. According to AI (who, as we all know KNOWS EVERYTHING...including what exactly is in those Jeffery Epstein papers) says 8 oz tub of Cool Whip is 3 cups, while 1 cup of heavy cream equals 2 cups whipped.

I think it's going to make a lovely light tasting (although not light in calories) dessert with your changes. And like the idea of grated orange zest on the top.

CORRECTION: You'll need to whip 1.5 Cups of heavy cream to use in both layers of the recipe.

PS: After what Maria said, I checked at my local grocery store and they did still have one knock-off brand of frozen OJ...but the rest of that category was filled with frozen drink mixtures, such as frozen Margarita mix, frozen Daiquiri mix, etc). Also frozen cranberry juice...which I assume is for punches?
 
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marilynfl said:
Isn't that just canned frozen orange juice found in the freezer section? It's always known as concentrate because the viewing public might try and drink it straight without adding water. Let it thaw just a bit and you can scoop out your three Tbl.
View attachment 3490
The orange gelatin will be in the Jello section. Try NOT to use the sugar-free version. It won't hurt if you do, but I can always taste a subtle difference. Also, 2.5 TLB will measure differently between a box with real sugar and one with artificial sweetener.

I would buy a pint of heavy cream and then whip 1 cup. According to AI (who, as we all know KNOWS EVERYTHING...including what exactly is in those Jeffery Epstein papers) says 8 oz tub of Cool Whip is 3 cups, while 1 cup of heavy cream equals 2 cups whipped.

I think it's going to make a lovely light tasting (although not light in calories) dessert with your changes. And like the idea of grated orange zest on the top.
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Thanks so much Marilyn!
 
Yes, everything Marilyn said. It is frozen orange juice in the can, but my grocery store actually does not carry this anymore! It’s still findable, but for me, I have to check a couple of stores.
 
marilynfl said:
Curious if you made this, monj? I'm thinking of doing it for a meeting treat and wanted your take on it first.
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Hi Marilyn!
Firstly--this was a HUGE hit. I made a few minor tweaks. I used a 9 x 9 aluminum cake pan (actually had belonged to my Mom). I thought the suggested 8 x 8 would make the crust too high in the pan. The vanilla wafers come in 11 oz boxes now, so I weighed out 1 oz of pretzels (no cookies on hand) and ground them up with the wafers. I froze the vanilla wafer crust in the pan for a few hours before adding the filling, which kept the base crunchy after adding the filling. (made the dessert the night before and refrigerated) I used my food processor to whip the cream cheese, concentrate, etc (step 2, before folding in whipped cream in a bowl) Cut back a bit on the powdered sugar. I used an ancient bottle of orange extract that still smelled pretty good, maybe a tsp each in the first layer and the whipped cream. I stabilized the whipped cream using a tablespoon of instant vanilla pudding per cup. (whipped 2 cups of cream, wound up with a pint container left over which I figured would be the case, as I decided adding the extra layer of cream to the top would make it too rich and heavy.
I wanted to show the orange creamsicle layer, so I made three stripes of whipped cream with my offset spatula and topped the white stripes with the orange zest. It was pretty rustic looking as I don't have piping tips (again, not a dessert maker/baker)

In NJ, the Kohrs ice cream stands on the boardwalk have been around for more than 100 years and feature an orange sherbet/vanilla twist custard cone that we grew up on, so it was a nostalgic dessert.
I'll try to upload a pic of the dessert tomorrow. :)
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other
 
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mariadnoca said:
Yes, everything Marilyn said. It is frozen orange juice in the can, but my grocery store actually does not carry this anymore! It’s still findable, but for me, I have to check a couple of stores.
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Thanks Maria. I knew what the orange concentrate was, but my store typically only sells the large cans which I was hoping to avoid buying by seeking a potential sub for it. Got lucky and found a 12 oz can. It's a lovely dessert that everyone enjoyed, got a lot of compliments and "what's in this?" I recommend it to anyone looking for a nice summery dessert. I would not add the 3rd layer of whipped cream, as per my notes for Marilyn below. Too rich and obscures the pretty cantaloupe color of the filling. It's amazing how expensive everything is. This dessert costed out close to 20.00. Sounds like a simple dessert right? Quart of heavy cream, 4.59 (only used half) Jello: 1.79, vanilla pudding, 1.00, store brand vanilla wafers, 4.00, powdered sugar, 2.00, cream cheese, 5.00, butter, 2.00.
No Way What GIF by Hill's Pet Nutrition
 
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Yes, it’s crazy how expensive everything has become. It’s one of the reasons I decided to get a freezer, so I could stock up on sales and buy more in bulks. Plus, buy less premade.
 
monj, we're of the same mind! After reading your Monday post, I made up the dessert for a meeting tonight. I won't see the layers until it gets cut, but will try and remember to take a photo.

Here are the edits I made:
Not enough Nilla wafers, so I added lemon shortbread cookies to reach the 12 oz.
Put it in a 9x9" pan (didn't think an 8" pan would feed enough people tonight) and put it in the freezer to chill.
Used three cream cheese and added Boyajian orange oil as well as the concentrated OJ. My store had one 12 oz can of off-brand OJ. It was very bitter so I kept the recipe amount of sugar.
Used leftover Cool Whip for the inside layers, but will use real heavy cream for the top layer. I have canned mandarin orange sections draining to put one segment on each piece.

I was never a Creamsicle fan (it wasn't chocolate!) so I'm interested to see what the group thinks.

Also, yes...this was expensive. I actually had everything from other projects other than the frozen OJ and the orange jello and wanted to use my leftover ingredients up, so this was a great solution. Thank you for posting it.
 
marilynfl said:
monj, we're of the same mind! After reading your Monday post, I made up the dessert for a meeting tonight. I won't see the layers until it gets cut, but will try and remember to take a photo.

Here are the edits I made:
Not enough Nilla wafers, so I added lemon shortbread cookies to reach the 12 oz.
Put it in a 9x9" pan (didn't think an 8" pan would feed enough people tonight) and put it in the freezer to chill.
Used three cream cheese and added Boyajian orange oil as well as the concentrated OJ. My store had one 12 oz can of off-brand OJ. It was very bitter so I kept the recipe amount of sugar.
Used leftover Cool Whip for the inside layers, but will use real heavy cream for the top layer. I have canned mandarin orange sections draining to put one segment on each piece.

I was never a Creamsicle fan (it wasn't chocolate!) so I'm interested to see what the group thinks.

Also, yes...this was expensive. I actually had everything from other projects other than the frozen OJ and the orange jello and wanted to use my leftover ingredients up, so this was a great solution. Thank you for posting it.
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Excellent! Hope it's a hit for your group too! I didn't put the top layer of whipped cream on, thought it would be too much and obscure the nice color of the orange layer, so I made 3 stripes of whipped cream and dusted with orange zest. Can't upload a pic, my phone isn't working poperly to do that. (long story, grrr) I cut small squares, as there were other desserts and figured more people would try a wee taste.
 
I'm from South Africa, where we use crushed Marie biscuits / Maria cookies for our cookie bases. I am substituting these for Nilla wafers - they are about a dollar per pack, so much cheaper, and still a vanilla cookie. They are in the Hispanic aisles at supermarkets, or at Hispanic stores, if you are interested in trying. I only buy them when needed, as they are a great dunking cookie, and I'm not supposed to eat cookies.
 
lana-in-fl said:
I'm from South Africa, where we use crushed Marie biscuits / Maria cookies for our cookie bases. I am substituting these for Nilla wafers - they are about a dollar per pack, so much cheaper, and still a vanilla cookie. They are in the Hispanic aisles at supermarkets, or at Hispanic stores, if you are interested in trying. I only buy them when needed, as they are a great dunking cookie, and I'm not supposed to eat cookies.
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Great idea--I'll look for them next time I make this dessert. I was going to try Aldi to see if they had a cheaper brand of vanilla wafers, but I don't think you can beat a dollar. :) Thanks Lana!
 
ha...everyone seemed to love the piece of fruit on top. I think it fooled them into thinking this was a light dessert when it actually had full-fat cream cheese, heavy cream and a stick of butter in it.
 
Heads up: If anyone plans to add the mandarins on top, use a brand name of canned fruit like Dole. I opened TWO cans of off-brand and the segments were so ratty they didn't even look like mandarins. I happened to have a can of Dole in my pantry so I opened that as a last ditch attempt. The difference was amazing, in color, shape and texture. The off-brand stuff is in the refrig now, awaiting Death by Smoothie.
 
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marilynfl said:
Heads up: If anyone plans to add the mandarins on top, use a brand name of canned fruit like Dole. I opened TWO cans of off-brand and the segments were so ratty they didn't even look like mandarins. I happened to have a can of Dole in my pantry so I opened that as a last ditch attempt. The difference was amazing, in color, shape and texture. The off-brand stuff is in the refrig now, waiting to be smoothie'd to death.
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I have noticed that as well. The difference really is stunning and yet so far, I have noticed it only with m. oranges. There are some 'no-name' brands that are just fine but I guess they are just relabelled from the reliable sources. Others just look as though they've lived a life of abuse.
 
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