Recipe: Chocolate wafer icebox cake

My husband's family has made this classic icebox cake for years. We often make it to celebrate New Year's Eve. It requires only four ingredients - or less, if you don't want to make your own whipped cream. And it's absolutely delicious.

This no-bake cake is so easy, even the kids can help out. Warning: It can get a little messy! Here's how we make it.

1 (9 ounce) package of chocolate wafer cookies. We use the thin, chocolate wafers sold as "Famous Chocolate Wafers" by Nabisco. I've seen them at Harris Teeter and Kroger. You can sometimes find them with the ice cream toppings.

Add the whipping cream, sugar and vanilla and whip together until stiff peaks form. You also can skip this step and just use Cool Whip.

Then you want to completely cover the cookies with the whipped cream. Looking around online, there are a lot of ways people do this. At my house, we use a 9 x 13 baking dish and start smearing the whipped cream between the cookies, stacking them together in a long line until the entire package has been used. Then, completely cover the cookies with the remaining whipped cream. You want to make sure all of the cookies are covered by the whipped cream.

Cover the pan with some plastic wrap. We place a few toothpicks in the top of the cake so that the plastic wrap doesn't pick up too much of the whipped cream. Stick the cake in the refrigerator for at least five hours or overnight.

The cookies soak up the moisture from the whipped cream, so they're more cake-like than cookie. It's light, but rich and delicious.