Pineapple Peanut Butter Ice Box Cake

As I mentioned last year, I entered the 48th Pillsbury Bake Off contest with two entries

 (Breakfast and Dessert category).

At the time I didn't want to divulge what my recipes were before the contest concluded because I assumed it would land me on the Pillsbury Doughboy's Black List.  I also figured you all would be seeing me and my recipes on various morning news shows and magazine covers while also holding the honor of Grand Nationals Pillsbury Bake Off Miss Biscuit on Main Street Parades across the country.  I would be giving demonstrations, interviews, and tossing out tubes of crescent roll dough to the eager parade route crowds. My recipes would be printed in various national food publications and even become cherished handwritten recipe cards to be passed down from generation to generation. 

 Part of winning the contest involved having the camera crew from Food Network come to your kitchen to film the recipe being made along with having an appearance on a Food Network show called The Kitchen.  I had planned that when the Food Network producers experienced my magnetic charm, charisma, and spunk, I was sure to be offered my own show!  On my show I would make all sorts of interesting vintage recipes and food sculptures, heavily garnished of course.  I would also venture into selling my own signature line of aprons, recipe books, and multitasking kitchen apparatuses.   I would be performing for sold out audiences at every city's municipal center, doing my own zany food demonstrations, souvenirs for sale in the lobby.

Yes, I had it all laid out.  

Well. As you may have noticed, I am not trying to sell you my signature flavored Fried Chicken chewing gum.  Nor have I been on the cover of famed magazines, National Inquirer or Star.  And I am not coming to a town near you.  Well, not unless you live in my town, then you can see me every Monday schlepping behind a grocery cart at the Piggly Wiggly. 

So dear friends, I will present to you through my humble blog, one of the recipes that I submitted.  I still feel it's a darn good recipe and would have been worthy of winning (humbly of course!).

 A rich and delicious Ice box cake made from Pillsbury sugar cookies, canned pineapple, coconut, and peanut butter! 

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Pineapple Peanut Butter Ice Box Cake

24 baked sugar cookies

8 oz cream cheese

3/4 tub cool whip

1 1/2 cup cream of coconut

1 can of crushed pineapple (drained, reserve juice)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup sweeten condensed milk

1 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

Bake and cool cookies.  Over medium heat in a double boiler, blend together peanut butter,  milk,  2 tbsp of pineapple juice, and half of brown sugar.  Remove from heat and set aside.  In separate bowl, combine drained pineapple with the remaining brown sugar, set aside.  In another bowl, blend together cream cheese and coconut cream, then fold in cool whip.  In a large rectangular baking dish, place down 1/3 of cookies, topped next with 1/3 pineapple, 1/3 cool whip mixture, and a sprinkling of coconut. Repeat this process for the next 2 layers. On top last layer drizzle peanut butter sauce and chopped peanuts over top of dessert.  Place in fridge overnight.  

Side note: When entering the contest you can only have 8 ingredients.  I had to leave out the flaked coconut and peanuts in the original submission.

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Let me tell you, I will most likely not be entering the next time around.  It's not Pillsbury's fault, It's me. I am just not one who enjoys being so analytically precise about everything.  As I always say, a recipe is only a serving suggestion.  When entering the Bake Off, you must time everything, measure everything, and report everything with complete accuracy within a set time limit.  I know, that's not asking too much from most people but I just can't operate that way, it takes all of the joy out of it.

I, of course, wondered why I wasn't selected.  I feel my dessert was a solid recipe and an interesting combination of ingredients.
It could have involved the part of the judging where they asked for the "Story" behind the submitted recipe.  I could have lied and come up with some great spin such as how this dish was
something my grandmother used to make every July 17.  It all started July 17, 1957 when she was out in her garden and thought she had discovered the pineapple plant growing among her succotash hybrids. Then the next year on July 17, 1958, she thought she had invented peanut butter when she was stomping around on some peanuts the kids had thrown on the floor.  She decided to put these two ingredients together along with a few more she invented like coconut and cookies from previous July 17s the years earlier, into which she then invented the Ice Box Cake.  Yes, granny was quite the inventor!  And she was crazy, certifiable.  Every July 17 we would all go to visit her in the nut house where she would tell us about everything she had invented or was a part of.  BTW, Granny also invented the burrito, crochet, and cat litter.  So as an ode to July 17 and Crazy Grandma Cora, I present this recipe for Pineapple Peanut Butter Ice Box Cake.

That could have landed me a network show for sure.  But I decided to go with the truth, which was Mr. Husband Sir loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  He has one every night before going to bed.  One week while picking up his regular gallon of cherry jelly, the grocery store was out of it. I called up Mr. Husband and asked him for another flavor recommendation.  He said Pineapple.  Pineapple and peanut butter?  That's crazy talk, but he loves those flavors together.  I then got the idea to make him a full fledged dessert involving pineapple, peanut butter, and coconut because everything is better with coconut.

I guess that story is kinda boring. So, well, I didn't win.  Didn't even get a coupon for a free sack of flour for my troubles.



I have another recipe I submitted for the Bake Off that I will eventually put up here when I get around to making it, photographing it, and writing it all up.  In the mean time you all can make some Pineapple Peanut Butter Ice Box Cake and crochet a burrito this July 17 and remember Crazy Granny Cora.