Kids Love It: Fast 'n Easy Whipped Cream

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Several months ago we had a surprise leftover: cans and cans of whipped cream—those dessert partials that generous friends bring to picnics and parties to share but end up not getting used.

Gosh, having those handed over was no hardship at all, for we just love whipped cream at our house. On jello. On pudding. On cookies, cake, ice cream. What the heck: just spray it on a spoon. No need to have a dessert first—plenty have been known to eat it straight off the utensil. What the heck, save the silverware and do the straight-into-the-mouth-dealie (kids love that!). Now there’s a quick and easy dessert, for sure.

But here in our recipe development household, it got us to thinking and wondering about how to make the real stuff … you know, real whipped cream, homemade style.

I have to tell you, I never made homemade whipped cream before! I grew up on Cool Whip. Those cans of freshly dispensed whipped cream were a new and interesting delight that I got well acquainted with in my college years as a waitress though: topping rice pudding, hot fudge brownie sundaes, carrot cake and whipped strawberry, vanilla and chocolate shakes. To dispense whipped cream from a can! What novelty! What delight! It seemed to be the crowning touch on any dessert.

But homemade whipped cream?

Come on. It may be fun to watch ‘em whip it up on the food channel, but it’s not happening here. Not by a long shot. I’ve been so busy just making sure dinner happens that to make dessert is over the top—never mind the whipped cream. Much less homemade whipped cream.

So that’s why I was so surprised when I found out how easy it is to make homemade whipped cream. Yes: Easy! Quick!

And best of all, all you have to remember is to pick up a container of whipping cream at the store. Making a homemade batch means that you get to bypass the stabilizers, emulsifiers and nitrous oxide gas that get packed into those cans of pressurized whipped cream.

Now, you’ll have a choice of whipping cream types: you can choose either heavy or light. Light whipping cream contains 30 to 36 percent milk fat. Heavy whipping cream contains 36 to 40 percent milk fat. I usually choose the light and have had good luck with it—even though I’ve read that light cream (along with half-and-half) can’t be whipped. Hmmm, don’t know if I’m getting lucky or what, but I’ve been able to get good results with light whipping cream—and I’m not even using a copper bowl.

I recently read that if you have a copper bowl, it can help the cream whip to higher levels—chill that copper bowl and you’ll apparently have even firmer whipped cream. When whipping cream, keep in mind that it will double in volume. So don’t go overboard on the cream—know that one li’l ol' container will make quite a nice batch of delightful whippy topping.

You know how much fun kids have squirting those cans directly into their mouths? Well, it’s just about as much fun seeing them learn how whipping cream is made too. Best of all, it really is fun and easy. It’s not hard to pick up a container at the store—and kids take to this so easily. This version is just lightly sweetened and delightfully creamy.

Serves/Makes: 2 cups

• 1 cup well-chilled heavy whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract