The Key Ingredients You'll Need To Make Minnesota's Beloved Cookie Salad

Sweet, airy, and surprisingly filling, fluff salads — those undefinable bowls filled with canned fruit and whipped topping — defy their healthful nomenclature. Often found at potlucks or holiday get-togethers, these fluffs or sweet salads fall into a hazy category, as they're often served as a side, and aren't fully realized as a dessert. In the Midwest, a Minnesota-born recipe, aka "cookie salad," is yet another riff on these fruity fluffs. But for this recipe, fudge striped cookies and non-dairy whipped topping is required to properly call itself a cookie salad.

Although it's difficult to pinpoint the first-ever fluff, Ambrosia is a worthwhile place to start. Named after the Greek term for "food of the gods," the recipe for Ambrosia was originally oranges, shredded coconut, and sugar according to an 1867 cookbook entitled "Dixie Cookery: or How I Managed My Table for Twelve Years" by Maria Massey Barringer. Over the years, the recipe expanded and now it includes ingredients such as heavy whipping cream, yogurt, sweetened coconut, maraschino cherries, marshmallows, and pecans. As it grew, home cooks made it their own with alternate fluff recipes like Pink Stuff and Green Goop in the South, and the Midwest's cookie salad.

Cool, sweet and fruity, fluffs are especially delicious on a hot summer's day, but these so-called salads are seen on pitch-in tables and holiday spreads all throughout the year. Like all fluffs, Minnesota's cookie salad contains easily accessible ingredients which can be whipped together in no time. Items included canned mandarin oranges, instant vanilla pudding, buttermilk, a tub of non-dairy whipped topping, and fudge stripe cookies — which are both broken up into the salad and used as a garnish on top.

Some recipes, falling in line with Pink Stuff, Frog Eye Salad, and Pistachio Fluff (also called Watergate Salad), include a can of crushed pineapple, while others go to extremes, making all of the ingredients (including the cookies) from scratch. Arguably the best thing about fluff is how easy it is to make the recipe you own. Get creative and try adding nuts like pecans, pistachios, or peanuts for a salty crunch, or include your favorite fresh fruits as everything from bananas and peaches to mango are ideal for a fantastic fluff. If you want to take it in a DIY direction, consider making your own marshmallow fluff.