You Only Need Hershey Bars And Cool Whip For This Retro No-Bake Pie Filling

It's tough to imagine a time when freezing a chilly dessert wasn't as simple as popping it in the freezer, but electric refrigerators (and freezers) weren't a thing in most American homes until 1913. This meant that recipes for cold desserts relied on the chill of iceboxes to transform goopy pie fillings into smooth, structured desserts. While icebox pies became less popular with the advent of electric refrigeration, some of them are still a hit today.

You can make a creamy chocolate pie filling with nothing more than a Hershey's chocolate bar and Cool Whip. It's easy enough to melt chocolate and mix it with the whipped topping, but there are a few things that you'll want to keep in mind when making this vintage recipe. It's key to get your melted chocolate smooth — grainy or seized chocolate is the opposite texture you want in your pie filling. In addition to melting your chocolate over low heat (and staying away from the microwave), try adding a little bit of butter to your chocolate as it melts. The fat from the butter helps the chocolate melt into a silky, decadent consistency that seamlessly folds into the Cool Whip.

Once you have a base canvas of melted chocolate and Cool Whip, you have tons of options for customization. If you're in the mood for a refreshing mint-chocolate pie, try folding chopped Andes mints into your filling and topping your pie with crushed Thin Mints (or a Ritz cracker Thin Mint dupe if you don't have any Girl Scout cookies on hand). For a Nutella-flavored pie, try folding a bit of the chocolate-hazelnut spread into the filling, then top the pie with crushed and toasted hazelnuts. Just be sure to peel the bitter skin off your hazelnuts before popping them into the oven.

A Hershey's bar and Cool Whip icebox pie also serves as a great base for a s'mores-themed dessert — with a graham cracker crust, of course. Once your pie and filling have fully chilled, sprinkle some marshmallows on top. A kitchen torch, such as the Sondiko PS400 butane torch on Amazon, can quickly toast the tops of your marshmallows. Tuck a few squares of the Hershey's chocolate bars into the center for a treat that's just as pleasing to the eye as it is to your inner child.