Every family has them. No, not black sheep … family recipes! And typically they’re comfort food recipes, because do you really need a handed-down recipe for making salads?!
In my family, our comfort food consists primarily of desserts: my grandmother’s strawberry shortcake, her Congo Bars (known as blondies to those not in the know) and Cookie Lert.
Cookie Lert is the icebox cake found on the back of the Nabisco chocolate wafer box, those elusive wafers that appear only around the holidays, each narrow yellow box inspected for broken cookies before gingerly being placed into the shopping cart.
Why we call it Cookie Lert, no one knows, but, traditionally, it’s our go-to Christmas dessert and has been since before I can remember. And while I found worthy substitutes for my grandmother’s strawberry shortcake (gluten-free Bisquick) and her Congo bars (see my recipe here), Cookie Lert baffled me. Other gluten-free chocolate wafers on the market proved insufficient, and I’d all but given up until Pamela’s offered to send me a box of their latest gluten-free goodie, graham crackers.
Pamela’s chocolate graham crackers are an ideal substitute for the Nabisco chocolate wafers, should your family have a love of icebox cakes. Icebox cakes are ideally made with a dry, crisp cookie that is thin enough to absorb the whipped cream topping – and that’s exactly what you’re getting with Pamela’s chocolate graham crackers! Icebox cakes are super easy: they set in the fridge (aka icebox) overnight, and your reward is a creamy, cake-like dessert that doesn’t require heating up your kitchen.
This summer, I’ve been craving peanut butter and chocolate, especially in cup form a la Reese’s peanut butter cups; Trader Joe’s has their own version, which taunt me every time I pass through the freezer aisle.
For this cake, I relied on this recipe from Martha Stewart (I also use her recipe to modify my grandmother’s Cookie Lert, but don’t tell anyone). Pamela’s kindly sent me a sample pack of their new graham crackers, which included the mini chocolate grahams, perfect for this recipe. You could also use the regular sized grahams and shape the cake as a square. (Whipped cream and the right cookie are rather forgiving, as you’ll find if you delve into the world of icebox cakes.)
Pamela’s graham crackers, which also include a cinnamon and honey variety, are perfect for eating straight from the box, as I discovered at my daughter’s beach camp yesterday when she and her friends left me with empty boxes and tummies full of Pamela’s grahams.
I hope you’ll give Pamela’s graham crackers a try, whether for s’mores at your next beach BBQ or for your very own icebox cake. To get you started, I’ve joined forces with Pamela’s for this awesome giveaway which includes a pack with one box each of their Honey Grahams, Cinnamon Grahams and Mini Chocolate Grahams. Enter below, and good luck!
Disclosure : This giveaway is sponsored by Pamela’s Products. I received product for my review. All opinions are my own.
Looks divine!
Thanks, Liz – it was good, too good in fact! I had to send half the cake home with guests so I wouldn’t eat the entire thing!
Love s’mores! And I like to crush grahams and out it in top of things too!
I usually just eat them straight out of the box!
I like them straight from the box but now I am craving smores! Thank you for linking up!
I like to eat them with peanut butter and jelly on top!
I would probably eat these right out of the box or maybe with some peanut butter as a snack.
I love eating graham crackers with pb and bananas!
Smores or as a pie crust-lol
I like to dip them in cream cheese!
my fave way to eat grahams is topped with nut butter at tea time
I love crumbled graham crackers as an ice cream topping! Yum and I love that these are gluten-free!
I eat them with a cup of tea usually for breakfast,weird i know.
S”mores for sure! But my kids eat up all the graham crackers out of the box before we have a chance to make s’mores most of the time.
I enjoy them with peanut butter!
I eat them with homemade vanilla frosting just like when I was a little girl! 🙂
i love them with peanut butter!
Love to eat them right out of the box, but smores are good too 🙂
That looks SO delicious! I love graham crackers with a glass of super cold milk
I like them right out of the box!
S’mores or as a crust for a cheesecake!
I like using them to make a cream pie.
just plain grahams for this girl!
Graham crackers in s’mores are always great!
I like to make pie crusts from them for cheesecake
Definitely in Smores
Kind of weird but I sandwhich mine with peanut butter 🙂
Straight outta the box for me!
in yogurt
S’mores
I like Graham crackers with chocolate