Non-dairy whipped topping

[JeanneCake]

One of my catering clients needs a Dirt Cake dessert for a mitzvah celebration. It's been about 20 years since I had this last; I remember this as mixing up instant pudding mix with milk, and layering it with whipped cream and crushed oreos and letting it sit for a few hours and it was pretty good on a summer night after a barbeque.

So since this is a meat meal, we cannot have dairy. I can get non-dairy whipped topping in a carton (Pastry Pride, Elgin and Rich's is what my distributor carries - any opinions on which is better than the other?) - can I use this as a substitute for milk when making the pudding? (I have to admit, I don't have any boxed pudding mix so I have to look and see if that can even be used at all.)

Or, any other ideas on how to do this dessert if you can't use the non-dairy topping as milk?

[alligande]

How about soy milk/creamer I have used soy milk in cakes and have used the vanilla creamer to make pastry cream, which worked surprisingly well.

[JeanneCake]

I'll be making 45 of them, it's a 5 oz serving (cosmo glass). Should I use regular or vanilla soy milk for the pudding (pastry cream)? I don't use soy milk so I don't know how the vanilla version differs from the regular or unflavored kind) then I can use the non-dairy whipped topping for the whipped cream.

When you say vanilla creamer, is that a soy coffee creamer? In the milk aisle in the supermarket?

[Pam R]

I'd probably use Rich's. You can try it with soy, but be careful because it's shocking how many soy milks are dairy. Is Nutrifil available in the US? I think it works best for the pudding. Can you get non-dairy pudding mix? Jello might be available there -- I know in Canada you can find it, but it's the Canadian version, not sure if it's kosher in the US. Osem makes it for sure, maybe some of the other kosher companies.

Also, Oreo's are dairy, so you'd have to find a parve alternative. I'm not sure if you have access to them, but companies like Lieber or Kemach make parve versions -- or in the US I think you can get other options in most supermarkets (Hydrox maybe).

[JeanneCake]

Pam, you're right about the Oreos - I always thought they were pareve, but no! Thank you for the heads up. I went to a large supermarket with a whole aisle devoted to Passover foods, and while they had plenty of Leiber and Kemach mixes, no cookies. I wonder if there are chocolate Nilla wafers (Famous Wafers are far too expensive to use for this) and if they are pareve....

I found Jello vanilla instant pudding at the store and it only had a circle U on it so that is pareve. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the cookies if I can't find a sub for them; I might just end up making a plain chocolate cake (I use water in my recipe and will sub out the butter with margarine) and crumbling it up. I ordered the Rich's from Perkins and will see how it goes.

[Yajna Patni]

Are oreo's still dairy? word on the grapevine is they have gone vegan. And i think Hydrox always were.

[JeanneCake]

Who knew something so simple could become so complicated!

The Rich's I ordered somehow transformed into a generic product that is dairy (the sales rep is fixing it as we speak); the store-brand chocolate sandwich cookies are also dairy, as is every other variety of chocolate sandwich cookie now; and while I was there I checked out Cool Whip, which is also dairy (I always thought it was non-dairy but no. I don't know what's in it to see how it could be called dairy but never mind that for now).

Droxies (Hydrox) are also dairy.

I found chocolate graham crackers that are pareve so I'm going to use those instead of the oreo crumbs; different taste I know but same look.

I think next time I am going to suggest they do a beach theme and go for sand instead of dirt - at least the Vienna Fingers cookies are pareve!

[Pam R]

I don't really know, but I think Oreos went from having other animal product (lard?) to being kosher/dairy.

I think part of the problem with finding things right now, if they're anything like me, stores aren't stocking a lot of kosher items right now unless they're kosher for PAssover. I bet those Lieber and Kemach mixes were for Passover. I usually carry the cookies but my store just changed over, so I can't even check the packaging to see if they're dairy/parve.

I bet the chocolate grahams will be great. Good luck!

[StephMac]

I know you've already got the chocolate grahams, but would Newman-Os be an option? They're the Newman's Own version of Oreos, and I found this on the Newman's Own FAQ:

>>>

# Are Newman\'s Own Organics cookies kosher?

All NOO cookies are kosher. They are certified kosher by the Orthodox Union.

# What does the OUD on the front of the Newman-Os and ABCs packaging stand for?

Although there is no dairy in these products, the certifying rabbi assigns the OUD symbol to signify that there are dairy materials present in the production facility.

[KarenDW]

I have used rice milk (Rice Dream in Canada) in a variety of recipes with success. Don't have a box here, so can't check for the parve designation.