Cue the ice cream truck melody! These orange creamsicle bars have nostalgic flavor in an easy, no-bake dessert.
Everyone has a favorite treat from the neighborhood ice cream truck, whether it’s a frosty snow cone or a strawberry shortcake bar. One of my all-time favorites is the creamsicle, so I wanted to capture the beloved orange-vanilla flavor in a format that I can make more easily at home—hence, these orange creamsicle bars! With this no-bake dessert recipe, no sticks are necessary: Instead, tidy squares show off lovely white and orange layers.
Classic orange creamsicles are vanilla ice cream pops coated with a thin layer of orange sherbet. They have a creamy texture with soft vanilla and orange flavors. Our orange creamsicle dream bars recipe re-creates that flavor with a cream cheese and Cool Whip filling blended with vanilla and orange juice. It’s a cool summery dessert and ice cream truck copycat recipe that’s pretty enough for parties, and like many of our no-bake dessert bars, it’s easy enough to make for an after-dinner treat.
Orange Creamsicle Bar Ingredients
Vanilla wafer cookies: The crushed cookies make a simple vanilla-flavored base for the bars. It’s one of several tasty vanilla wafer cookie recipes that make it worth keeping a box on hand.
Cream cheese: Many no-bake, creamy desserts begin with cream cheese. To ensure a smooth mixture in this recipe and other cream cheese desserts, soften the cream cheese thoroughly before beginning.
Orange juice concentrate: Because frozen orange juice concentrate has much of the water removed, a small amount packs a lot of orange flavor.
Confectioners’ sugar: This fine sugar blends smoothly into the cream cheese mixture to sweeten the filling.
Butter: Melt unsalted butter and blend it with the cookie crumbs to make an easy no-bake crust.
Frozen whipped topping: Let it thaw in the fridge before blending it into the filling. As with other Cool Whip recipes, the topping adds sweetness and a creamy texture.
Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract, along with the orange juice, gives the bars that wonderful creamsicle flavor.
Orange gelatin powder: Use this ingredient to create the orange-colored layer in the center of the bars. The powder adds a little more orange flavor too.
Salt: Add just a pinch of salt to make the filling flavors really pop.
Directions
Step 1: Prepare the pan
Line an 8×8-inch baking dish with parchment or waxed paper by cutting two long pieces and crisscrossing them so that they extend over the edges. This creates handles to lift the dessert after chilling.
Step 2: Make the crust
Combine the crushed vanilla wafer crumbs with the melted butter, and press the mixture into the bottom of the lined baking dish to make an even, firm crust. Place the pan in the freezer while you prepare the filling.
Editor’s Tip: While you can easily crush the cookies with a rolling pin in a large resealable plastic bag, you can also add the cookies to the bowl of a food processor and grind them into fine crumbs. Pour melted butter into the processor as it’s running to blend it with the cookie crumbs.
Step 3: Make the filling
Put the softened cream cheese into a large bowl and beat until it’s smooth and light, two to three minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the confectioners’ sugar, thawed orange juice concentrate, vanilla extract and salt.
Beat the ingredients together for two to three minutes, scraping the bowl once or twice. Finally, fold in 1-1/2 cups of the thawed whipped topping until well-incorporated.
Step 4: Make the layers
Spoon half of the filling over the cookie crust, pushing it into the corners and smoothing the top. Add the orange gelatin powder to the rest of the filling in the bowl, then beat the mixture at medium speed until the powder is blended in, the filling is orange in color and the mixture is slightly thickened, one to two minutes.
Spoon this over the filling in the baking dish, smoothing it to an even layer.
Finally, spread the remaining whipped topping over the top of the filling.
Step 5: Chill, then serve
Cover the dish with storage wrap and refrigerate the dessert for at least four hours or overnight so that it can set. Once it’s chilled, use the parchment handles to lift the dessert out of the baking dish and onto a cutting board. Use a sharp kitchen knife to slice the dessert into nine bars, wiping the knife clean between cuts to keep the bars tidy. Top each bar with an optional fresh orange slice, orange zest or orange fruit slice candy. Serve the orange creamsicle bars immediately.
Editor’s Tip: You could also add a few drops of thawed orange juice concentrate on top of the Cool Whip layer and swirl a thread of orange color on top of the bars before slicing into them.
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