OMG! Vegan Whipped Topping In a Plastic Tub!

I loved Cool Whip when I was a kid. And even in my grown-up pre-vegan years, I enjoyed grabbing a spoon, ripping off the lid of the plastic Cool Whip bowl, and digging in. In my opinion, Cool Whip was better than ice cream. Better than cake. Better than pie. Better than just about any dessert.

Going vegan was tough because I had to give up cheese. But when I realized I would also have to give up Cool Whip, a small part of me died. Over the years, I've experimented with Rice Whip canisters (delicious but the nozzles get clogged and stop working ... bummer), homemade coconut whip (hit or miss depending on the brand of coconut milk and whether or not the milk has emulsifiers), Soyatoo Whippable Soy Topping (great but hard to find), and Rich Whip (vegan but loaded with nasty stuff, like hydrogenated oils).

Enter So Delicious Coco Whip!

Yes, the folks at So Delicous have gone and done it again! They're so innovative, and I am just beside myself with joy about this stuff. It's JUST LIKE COOL WHIP, y'all! Seriously. I can eat it with a spoon!!!!!! And it's actually made with good-for-you stuff instead of nasty hydrogenated oils!

There's a full-fat version and a light version (just as delicious, but a little less dense). For my dinner party last Friday, I cracked open the full fat one for this Vegan Death By Chocolate Cake (layered Kahlua-soaked brownies, chocolate pudding, Coco Whip, and dark chocolate chunks). Here's the recipe.

I'm saving the light stuff for eating by itself with a spoon. And I plan to save both tubs and reuse for leftovers because there's nothing more Southern than serving leftovers in a plastic Cool Whip tub.

Some Whole Foods stores should have Coco Whip now, and So Delicious is planning a larger Whole Foods roll-out by spring 2015. I haven't checked the Memphis store, but we tend to be late in getting things. We just got Kite Hill vegan cheese and Earth Balance cheddar crackers this month! I'm just hoping Coco Whip will be available here soon if it isn't already.

So Delicious also sent me samples of their holiday milks! Nothing says fall and winter like vegan holiday milks. So Delicious Pumpkin Spice Coconut Milk is my favorite this time of year. And since it's higher in calories than my usual almond milk, I like to dilute it — half a cup of Pumpkin Spice and half a cup of almond.

It's also excellent in coffee. Pumpkin Spice lattes! As for the So Delicious Nog Coconut Milk, I don't typically crack that open until after Thanksgiving. It's a little tradition in my house to drink rum-spiked vegan nog as I put up the Solstice tree on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I hate fall and winter, but nog and other holiday treats get me through it.

Holy crap, y'all, I just had a revelation. I can put a dollop of Coco Whip atop a glass of Pumpkin Spice Coconut Milk. Oh, it's on now!

So Delicious Halloween Ice Cream Bars!

We all scream ...

For ice cream! And because we're freakin' scared of all these ghosts and goblins and stuff!

Dude, So Delicious has gone and done the most magical thing. They've combined my favorite frozen dessert (coconut milk ice cream bars) and my favorite holiday (Halloween!!!!!!!!!!) in their new line of coconut milk frozen dessert holiday novelty bars.

I'd first heard about these on other blogs, but I hadn't seen them yet at my Whole Foods. So I assumed I'd never get to try them. But lo and behold, I got an email from So Delicious asking if I'd like to sample these for review. Uh, yeah. Like, super-excited all-caps YEAH! So Delicious sent me a cooler packed with dry ice and both of their new holiday frozen dessert bars (plus, there were some other fun new So Delicious products in there, but I'll be posting on those a little later).

Look!! Candy Corn and Pumpkin Spice Coconut Milk Dessert Bars!

I know the pumpkin spice craze has totally gotten out of control (and sometimes can be associated with "basic bitchiness"), but I don't even care because pumpkin spice is delicious, and it embodies all the magic of the season. If loving pumpkin spice is wrong, then I don't want to be right. My co-worker Max offered to be a hand model so long as he got to sample one of these Pumpkin Spice Bars.

Max, who is not vegan, wasn't so sure he was going to love vegan ice cream. But he took one bite and said, "That tastes just like real ice cream!" Of course, I informed him that vegan ice cream is real ice cream! But it's no wonder these could fool an omni. They're so ridiculously creamy, and the pumpkin spice is light and natural.

Later, I tried the Candy Corn Bars.

Now, I'll admit that I've never been a huge candy corn fan. The very non-vegan candies just taste like old sugar. Yuck. But I love the idea of candy corn. It's such an iconic Halloween candy. I couldn't imagine what these bars would taste like, but I was sure So Delicious would find a way to make candy corn delicious.

They did! These aren't candy corn flavored at all! The bottom layer is orange ice cream and the top is vanilla, with the very tip dipped in hard chocolate shell. Imagine an orange creamsicle with a smidge of crispy magic coconut chocolate! So good!

I have a couple bars left, and I'm savoring those for the rest of the month. Whole Foods is supposed to be carrying these through the end of October, so I'm hoping my Memphis store has them now. Also, look for So Delicious' new winter holiday Peppermint Star frozen dessert bars and Snowmen frozen dessert bars. They should be in stores already and on freezer shelves through January.

By the way, remember that dry ice I mentioned? Well, it was like an extra bonus prize! After I unloaded the ice cream into my office freezer, my co-workers Max and Toby decided to make witches' brew. Of course, they're wearing the protective So Delicious gloves they sent along.