Here's another dessert for Blahliday Season, which runs January 2 and into March. Blahliday desserts are easy, comforting, and nostalgic. So Icebox Cake is on the menu! Nabisco Famous Wafers were discontinued, but you can still make the beloved icebox cake using other cookies. Some types work better than others. Oreos work, but I recently made a Maria Cookie Icebox Cake using the (also famous) Spanish cookies.
What are Maria Cookies?
Maria cookies are vanilla or chocolate cookies that come in a roll and are usually found in the Mexican or Spanish section of USA grocery stores. Also known as Maria biscuits, they are different from the dearly departed Famous Wafers in that they are thicker, airer and much lighter in chocolate flavor. Compared to the thin and delicate chocolate wafers, the Maria cookies are sturdy and easy to work with. They come in packs of 32 and are less expensive than the old Nabisco wafers. My last pack was $1.38, so I bought three.
Maria Cookies Icebox Cake
I built the first little icebox cake by using 1 package of chocolate Marias. I made 4 stacks of 6 cookies each and put 2 cookies along each side the square cake. The square cake with the cookies on the side is a blank canvas for fun toppings. Next time I'm going to pile broken Pirouette cookies on top. Circus Animals would also be fun.
Coffee Flavored Option
We enjoyed the chocolate and vanilla combo, so after trying that I made a second cake with an espresso and cinnamon filling. I just flavored a little over half of the whipped cream with instant espresso and cinnamon. This flavored cream became the filling, and the plain vanilla whipped cream was the cover. For the top, I just threw on some basic ganache leftover from Ding Dong Cake. The coffee flavored cake was better than the plain vanilla version, but both were good.
So if you're thinking about making an icebox cake, don't overlook the Maria cookies! They're not as deeply chocolate as the Famous Wafers, but are good in their own right.
Recipe
Maria Cookie Icebox Cake
Ingredients
- 1 package Maria cookies, 32 cookies
- 1 ½ cups whipping cream
- ¼ to ⅓ cup powdered sugar, plus more to taste plus more if desired
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whip the cream with ¼ to ⅓ cup of the powdered sugar. Taste test and add the remaining if you want it sweeter. If you are used to very lightly sweetened cream you can start with even less powdered sugar.
- Spoon about a tablespoon of whipped cream on the top of 5 cookies, then stack the cookies and top with a 6th. Repeat to make 4 stacks of 6 cookies.
- Turn the stacks on their side and place them next to each other in pairs to form a square cake. Cover the whole cake with remaining whipped cream. Press remaining cookies along the sides, then cover the entire cake with a sheet of plastic wrap and chill for at least 5 hours.
- Before serving, transfer to a serving platter or nice plate. Garnish the center with chocolate shavings, cookie crumbs or broken Pirouette or anything you want.
Suea says
This post makes me nostalgic for the Nabisco Chocolate Wafers. Sigh…..
I’ve never noticed the Goya biscuits.
I’m making brownies for my Valentine. It’s been a long time since I made them. He will be delighted.