15 Vintage Icebox Desserts You'll Want to Make Forever
These delicious treats are a blast from the past.
Icebox desserts are like sweet little time machines. Nearly a century ago, advances in refrigeration and food storage gave rise to a host of cakes, pies, and puddings that use the refrigerator or freezer as an essential step in their preparation. Over time, these vintage icebox desserts never lost their appeal and the recipes have been passed down for generations. Perhaps you enjoyed classic icebox desserts such as zebra cake, grasshopper pie, and chiffon pie as a child, but if not, here's your chance to taste them for the first time. Scroll the gallery and take a look at these timeless icebox desserts—and clear out some space in your fridge or freezer so you can make one for your very own.
Zebra Cake III
Heavy whipping cream and crushed chocolate wafer cookies give zebra cake its stripes. During the 1940s, Nabisco printed the recipe for this icebox cake on boxes of Famous Chocolate Wafers — in fact, it still appears today. The marketing move boosted the popularity of both the cookies and icebox cakes.
Lemon Icebox Pie III
This tangy and creamy icebox pie only needs five ingredients, so putting it together is a snap. It also only needs to chill for two hours, which is fast for an icebox dessert. If you prefer your lemon desserts puckeringly sour, simply add more lemon juice and zest.
Related: 18 Tart and Decadent Lemon and Cream Cheese Desserts
Peanut Butter Pie XV
This filling for this top-rated icebox pie has a light peanut butter flavor and luscious whipped texture. It's extremely easy to make and would also work well with a chocolate cookie crust. If you don't have a food processor, you can use your blender to prep the ingredients. Recipe creator karela says, "You can make it the day before you need it because it keeps so well."
Strawberry Cream Pie To Die For
With minimal effort and maximum results, this classic cream pie recipe is a delicious summertime closer. "This is sure to become a family legend favorite recipe," says community member MI-Recipes. "It has the perfect combination of sweetness with the cream cheese and the crunch of the baked crust."
Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
If you need a speedy and impressive dessert for a crowd, your search is officially over. This cake comes together especially easily because it's made by layering ice cream sandwiches, whipped topping, hot fudge, and caramel. It's brilliant in its simplicity, and you won't have to worry about leftovers.
Chocolate Eclair Dessert
This is one of the most beloved dessert recipes on our entire website, period. The no-fuss treat requires few ingredients and minimal preparation, and yields an incredibly easy and delicious result. Allrecipes member Tina Fox says, "This is the best dessert to make for crowds or potluck."
Freezer Caramel Drizzle Pie
Community member MELBOURNEMAMA, who has been making this recipe for years, shares some tips for a perfect pie: "I use a frozen regular pie shell (comes in package of 2), defrost and pre-bake as directed. For the coconut, butter and pecan mixture I cook mine on low heat for at least 15–20 minutes to get the coconut really crunchy (but not burned) which makes a HUGE difference in the texture of the pie. For the caramel sauce, I use Smuckers but I slightly heat the jar in the microwave just enough to get it to drizzling consistency, about 10–15 seconds on high. When ready to freeze, I use waxed paper over pie and then wrap top only with foil."
Ice Cream Lasagna
Recipe creator Frauline says, "This yummy, chocolatey, peanut buttery, frozen layered ice cream treat is sure to be a hit with all! This is an often requested dessert in my house. Warning: It's VERY addictive!" It can be hard to slice when it's frozen solid, so you might want to leave it out for a few minutes to soften up first.
The Best Unbaked Cherry Cheesecake Ever
Once you try this unbaked cherry cheesecake, you might never want to bother with regular cheesecake again. It's light and fluffy, and only needs to refrigerate for 2–3 hours. To soften the cream cheese, leave it on the counter for about 20 minutes to make it easier to blend with the other ingredients.
Banana Split Ice Cream Pie
This dessert is doubly nostalgic: both the flavor and the cooking method are old-school. Community members recommend reducing the freezing time to three hours to allow the pie to set up but prevent it from from becoming frozen solid.
Creme de Menthe Grasshopper Pie
Grasshopper pie was a popular dessert in the 1950s, and you only need to take one bite to understand why. A mixture of marshmallow fluff and whipping cream gives this classic icebox pie an especially luxurious texture. To really highlight the chocolate and mint mixture, try making the crust out of Girl Scouts Thin Mints cookies.
Related: 32 Mint Chocolate Desserts You'll Want to Make Again and Again
Frozen Lemonade Pie with Berries
With its homemade crust and mixed berry topping, this frozen lemonade pie is a step up from the standard icebox dessert. It's still easy, but those extra details give it a sophisticated feel — plus, the sweet-tart mixture of the berries and the frozen lemonade filling is irresistible.
Chocolate Banana Pie
Two beloved classic desserts, banana pudding and icebox pie, unite to form a distinct and delicious treat. "This pie is actually better the second day. So the best plan would be to make it the day before you need it, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight," says recipe creator Jeannette Gartner.
Related: 17 Great Desserts Inspired by Banana Pudding
Lemon Chiffon Pie
"I followed the instructions exactly, and it turned out pretty great," says Allrecipes home cook Amelia Catherine Barnes. "The lemon flavor in this pie is really light and delicate. The people I made it for liked that about it — they kept saying how lemon desserts are usually too strong for their taste, and they liked how light this one was. If you wanted a stronger flavor, you could probably just use extra lemon juice. I didn't have any problem getting the custard to thicken — you just have to give it time to cool down."
Ice Cream Sandwich Cake
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
"This ice cream sandwich cake was renamed as 'The Best Dessert I've Ever Eaten' by my daughter this Memorial Day," DAYMOMMY. "I had made it before, but my husband ate all of it before she had a chance to get a taste! My husband doesn't like when I take this desert to a large gathering because it means he won't have any leftovers!"
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