Strawberry Oreo Frozen Dessert

Remember the story of The Velveteen Rabbit? A stuffed rabbit becomes real by being loved.

 "Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse to the Velveteen Rabbit. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

From Margery Williams' The Velveteen Rabbit

My cookbook compiled by the Kansas Electric Cooperatives is decidedly real. The brown plastic binding is cracked. Bent pages are splattered with left-behind ingredients. Paper clips are scattered across the pages, marking tried-and-true recipes. Handwritten notes dot the margins. The Breads, Rolls & Pastries divider was artfully scribbled with blue Crayon by one of my assistant cooks long ago. I had to dig under other cookbooks on the shelf to find the cover and copyright page, Kansas Kountry Kitchens: 1987.

But the recipes in the book are "real." They are from rural cooks, and the ingredients are ones that aren't in the gourmet aisle at the grocery store. Rather, they are ingredients found in well-stocked pantries, refrigerators and freezers of cooks who live far enough away from town that they don't run to the grocery store for a random ingredient.

In those pages, I rediscovered a recipe for Strawberry Oreo Frozen Dessert. I made it earlier in the summer, when Jill's family was coming for the weekend. It may not have reached the well-loved status of Frozen Lemonade Dessert in our family favorites list, but it was a tasty and cool treat on a hot summer day.

As you will see in the directions, you are supposed to let the egg whites and other ingredients whip on High for 10 to 15 minutes. You really need to do this. It's kind of like a mini miracle when you put a few ingredients in the bottom of your mixing bowl and end up with a whole bowl of fluffy pinkness. You can just put them on to whip and go dust for 15 minutes (OK. Let's get real here. You don't want to dust. Go read a book or play on the computer ... you fill in the blank.) Then pop it into the freezer for a sweet treat.

Strawberry Oreo Frozen Dessert

Modified from Kansas Kountry Kitchens: 1987
A Kansas Electric Cooperatives cookbook

1 pkg. (15.5 to 16 oz.) chocolate sandwich cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 8-oz. carton frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 egg whites
1 cup sugar
10-oz. pkg. frozen strawberries, thawed, undrained
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Crush sandwich cookies - either with a food processor or crushing with a rolling pin after putting cookies in a heavy-duty plastic bag. Melt butter and combine with cookie crumbs. Reserve 1 cup crumbs for topping. Pat the remaining crumbs into a 9- by 13-inch pan. Chill while preparing the strawberry mixture.

Beat egg whites until frothy. Add sugar in a steady stream, keeping the mixer going. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Add strawberries. Put mixer on high and beat for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture is high and fluffy. Gently fold in thawed whipped topping. Pour strawberry mixture over crumbs in the 9- by 13-inch pan. Spread evenly. Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs. Freeze for at least 6 hours before serving. Cut into squares to serve. If desired, garnish with fresh strawberries.

The color is lousy on this, but it shows you how much volume you need for the egg white/strawberry mixture.

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Today, I'm linked to What's In Your Kitchen Wednesday, a feature at Wichita blogger Ashley's Kitchen Meets Girl. Click on the link to check out what's cooking from food blogs across the U.S.