CTR stands for Choose the Right.
Last Saturday, my daughter decided to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a very special day full of family and friends who came to share in the joy of her baptism day.
I made a special jello art cake for her with the CTR shield and 8 flowers.
- 8 because she’s 8 years old.
- Purple flowers because it’s her favorite color.
- White flowers for purity and baptism.
I also made her beautiful dress. She chose the prettiest fabric at the store. She wanted 2 layers for the skirt. The lady at the cutting table thought it was so pretty she asked if I was making a wedding dress. I just love how it turned out.
I also put the CTR crest onto a towel for her to use after she came out of the water.
And yes, I stayed up past midnight the night before making 2 dozen CTR cookies. They went fast and were oh so good. I’m no professional at frosting sugar cookies, but I’m super happy with how these turned out.
I know that there are many people in the world with many different faiths, and many people who don’t believe in religion. I know that not everyone who follows my page my believe as I do. And I know that we can all come together and be friends no matter what our beliefs are.
I would like to share my belief in Jesus Christ. I believe that he lives and loves us and that we are all beloved children of a loving Heavenly Father.
No matter what you believe, I know that we can all make up our minds every day to Choose the Right. Live every day to make the right choices that will bring happiness and joy to you and those around you. It’s not always easy, but you will be blessed in oh so many ways if you do.
Clear Gelatin
Equipment
- medium saucepan
- medicine dropper
- bowl
- small whisk
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp clear gelatin powder
- 2 C sugar
- 4 C water
- 1 tsp citric acid powder
- 3 drops clear food flavoring
Instructions
- Mix gelatin with 1 cup of the cold water in a small bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. In a saucepan, heat sugar with citric acid powder and remaining 3 cups of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat when vapor begins to appear above the surface. Do not let it come to a boil. Take off heat.Add gelatin to saucepan and stir until completely dissolved. Using a medicine dropper, stir in just 3 drops of food flavoring. Go ahead and taste it to make sure flavor is right. Pour into desired containers and leave in the refridgerator until set.
Colored Base for Gelatin Flowers
Equipment
- Syringes
- Needles or Flower Tips
- Pan on the stove with a warm water bath to keep gelatin from setting up
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp gelatin powder
- 3 Tbsp cold water
- 1 Cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 1 drop food flavoring
- 3/4 Tbsp white food coloring
Instructions
- First, make the clear gelatin recipe and make sure it is set before you begin creating the colored gelatin for the flowers.
- Mix gelatin with cold water and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Heat sugar with 1/2 Cup of cream in a sauce pan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when vapor appears above the surface, do not let it boil.
- Add gelatin and stir until completely dissolved, then add the remaining 1/2 Cup of cream.
- Stir in one drop of food flavoring.
- Mix in the white food coloring using an emulsion blender, or a regular blender if you don't have an emulsion blender.
- Put back onto the stove on a very low heat to keep the gelatin warm. Stir occasionally.
- Get the clear gelatin out of the refridgerator. Cut a small circular hole in the middle of the top of the set clear gelatin.
- Pour some of the colored gelatin base into a small bowl or glass. Color it with food coloring.
- Using a syringe and a needle, inject the colored gelatin into the clear gelatin base. Play around with different techniques and designs and colors. It is easier than it looks and fun to create.
- Keep the colored gelatin woarm in the water bath while you are creating with other colors. You don't want the gelatin too hot or too cold. Also having boiling water in a couple other cups in the water bath is good to clean the needles and syringes when needed so they don't get clogged.
- Have fun!
Blueberry Muffins That I Can’t Stop Eating
I love fresh blueberry muffins. And these muffins are so incredible, I just can’t stop eating them. They have a perfect crumble top and are so yummy! I found this recipe in our family cookbook, but have tweaked a couple things. I hope you enjoy this super yummy recipe
Fresh Blueberry Crumble Muffins
Ingredients
Muffin Batter
- 1 1/2 C flour
- 3/4 C sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1/3 C oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 C milk
- 1 C blueberries
Crumble Top
- 1/4 C softened butter
- 3/4 C flour
- 2/3 C sugar
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray. Set aside.
Muffin Batter
- Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.
- In a 1 cup measuring cup, combine oil, vanilla, egg, and milk. Add enough milk to fill up the cup to the 1 cup line. Mix well.
- Wash the blueberries then gently add them to a small bowl. Take 1 TBSP of the dry ingredient mixture and toss with the blueberries to gently coat them.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until it's barely combined.
- Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Fill muffin tin evenly.
Crumble top
- Combine butter, flour, and sugar for cumble top.
- Stir until you get a nice crumble.
- Sprinkle genersously over the uncooked muffins. Fill the muffin tins to the top and then some.
Bake
- Bake fro 20-25 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean… unless you hit a blueberry, then it's going to come out blue/purple.)
I also want to shout out my favorite muffin pans: Rachael Ray nonstick muffin pans are the best!!! I have had my Rachael Ray pans for a few years now and I always prefer cooking with them. Clean up is so easy. I rarely have to scrub to get anything off of these. If you are looking for new cookware, seriously consider getting some Rachael Ray pans! (Not a paid endorsement.)
Super Bowl Party Football Jello
Want to bring the most epic jello to your next Super Bowl Party? This 3D football jello is a show stopper that your family and friends will rave about.
To start, I made one recipe of clear gelatin base and poured it into a deep 9×13 glass pan. Find the recipe here. I flavored the gelatin with coconut flavoring, it was so good!
After the gelatin is set, I made 1/6th of the recipe for the colored base to make the white laces and the stripes in the field. Find the recipe here.
After I made the laces, I made another recipe of the clear gelatin base , let it cool for a few minutes then poured it on top.
To make the football, I made a chocolate color base. It’s so yummy! Tastes just like chocolate!
Chocolate Color Base
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp gelatin powder
- 3 Tbsp cold water
- 1 Cup whipping cream
- 4 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Bloom the gelatin by mixing the gelatin and cold water together in a small bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Add the sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and 1/2 cup whipping cream to a sauce pan. Heat while stirring constantly until just about boiling. Don't let it come to a full boil.
- Add bloomed gelatin to sauce pan and stir until completely dissolved. Add the remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream.
- Strain the mixture to remove any clumps.
- Let it cool slightly before using.
To make the green grass, I used a regular Lime Jell-O package and made it with the speed set instructions. However, I don’t think I would use the speed set again because the gelatin was setting up too quickly. By the time I made all the grass in the clear gelatin, the Jell-O was pretty set up and clumpy so I had to make another batch of it to. have a nice smooth bottom.
Getting the jello out of the pan proved to be a crazy mess. We almost lost it a few times. Thankfully, I was able to get it all out, although not quite as nicely as I would have liked.
I cleaned out the sink and filled it with hot, boiling water. Then dipped the pan in the water for a while until the edges of the jello seamed to be pulling away from the pan.
Unfortunately, the top layer come out but not the bottom layer. Yikes! So I had to put the pan back in the hot water until the bottom layer started to come out too.
Next time, I’ll make sure both layers are ready to come out of the pan.
What’s your favorite dish to bring to your Super Bowl Party?
I’d love to hear from you and see your jello creations.
Thanks! – Danica
2019 Christmas Jello Trifles
Christmas is a time for the best family traditions and lots of great food. The one food that I always make for Christmas Eve is a Jello Trifle. I have been bringing a Jello Trifle to my family Christmas Eve party for at least the past decade. Every year, the trifles get more and more elaborate.
This year I was super excited to add gelatin flowers to the jello trifles. It took a lot of work and they were gone in super fast, but it wouldn’t feel like Christmas Eve without a jello trifle for our family.
I’ll walk you through step by step on how I made these amazing Jellos. I started at night on December 22nd by making the clear gelatin and pouring it into 2 pans of muffin tins and 3 round bowls.
But I made a big mistake. I wanted to triple my regular recipe so I used an older pan. One that I never used before while making jello. Well, the pan left little black flecks of non stick coating all throughout my jello. I picked a few out and thought maybe I had them all. But it kept bugging me all night when I would think about it.
When I woke up in the morning, I went to check on the jellos and I could tell that little black flecks were throughout all of the jello. I didn’t want to eat it and no way was I going to serve it to my family. So I scooped out all of the clear gelatin and threw it away, along with the terrible old pan. Boo!
So back to step one again. I grabbed a newer pan and didn’t it all over. But this put me hours behind where I wanted to be.
Click here for the recipe for the clear gelatin base.
Hours later I finally was able to start the gelatin flowers. First, I scooped out a small hole in the middle of each gelatin. Then I made 24 poinsettias in the 2 muffin pans. One pan of white poinsettias and one pan of red.
Click here for the recipe for how to make the gelatin flowers in the clear gelatin base.
After I made the small poinsettias, I made 3 large poinsettias.
Here comes the tricky part. Getting the small jello flowers to stick to the edge of the trifles and creating a hollow middle so I could fill it later with layers of jello.
I found 2 Tupperware containers that were just the right size for what I needed. I put the Tupperware in the middle of each trifle dish and then put the gelatin flowers in alternating colors around them. I had just enough flowers to make 2 layers of flowers in one trifle and one layer of flowers in the other.
Next I made another recipe of the clear gelatin base and poured it into the cracks around the small flowers.
I am not going to lie… THIS IS WHERE IT ALMOST ALL CAME APART!!!
THE TUPPERWARE STARTED FLOATING AND ALL THE FLOWERS STARTED GOING UNDERNEATH THE TUPPERWARE!!! AHHHHH! NOOOO!!!!
Quickly, I had to get the Tupperware out, and get the small flowers out. However, we had one casualty. One red flower got chopped into pieces in the process and didn’t make it.
I wasn’t ready to give up yet. I cleaned out the trifle dish and tried again.
This time I put water in the Tupperware to keep it from floating. It worked. I put the small flowers around the Tupperware and poured the clear gelatin around it. I used a small tool to get the bubbles out the of cracks. Then I put the trifles in the refrigerator to set up for a couple hours.
When it came time to get the Tupperware out. I carefully poured the water out into the sink. Then I poured boiling water into the Tupperware to warm the surrounding gelatin and get the Tupperware to release easily. After just a few seconds, the Tupperware was able to come right out.
Finally after all that work, it was time to start the first layer of jello.
I like to make my layers with jello, evaporated milk, water, and ice. It’s a really easy recipe.
First off, I use the larger boxes of Jello solely due to price. I buy the larger boxes of when they are on sale and always have a stock in my pantry. You can use the smaller boxes if you would like. I just get out my kitchen scale and measure out 3 oz. so I know I’m using half the box.
Layered Jello Recipe
Ingredients
- jello
- boiling water
- cold water
- ice
- evaporated milk
Instructions
Regular Jello Layers
- Pour 3 oz. Jello into a medium mixing bowl. Add 3/4 C. boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved and not grainy anymore. Add 1/3 C cold water and 1/4 C ice to mixing bowl. Stir until the mixture is chilled, but before it starts to set up. Remove any leftover ice cubes. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until gelatin seem to be set up.
Evaporated Milk Jello Layers
- Pour 3 oz. Jello into a medium mixing bowl. Add 3/4 C. boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved and not grainy anymore. Add 1/2 C evaporated milk and 1/4 C ice to mixing bowl. Stir until the mixture is chilled, but before it starts to set up. Remove any leftover ice cubes. Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes or until gelatin seem to be set up. (Seems to set up quicker than regular layers.)
Layered Jello Instructions
- Alternate between a regular Jello Layer and an Evaporated Milk Layer. In any color pattern of your choosing. Make sure that the layer is set up before pouring the new layer on top. If it isn't set up well, they layer will lift up and float. I like to pour the liquid jello onto a spoon right above the cold jello layer . This helps to disperse the liquid jello without disrupting the layers. I use this recipe and separate the layers into 2 dishes so that they layers are thinner. My 2 trifles will hold 6-7 large (6 oz.) boxes of Jello. That's 12-14 layers! To get the slanted effect of the jello pictured, I carefully tipped the trifle dish in the refrigerator, changing the angle with each layer.
Above are some pictures of this years trifles getting their layers. The picture on the right is as far as I got on December 23rd before heading to bed. If I didn’t have to throw out the clear gelatin in the morning, I could have had it all done on the 23rd, but instead I had to wake up early on the 24th to get the final layers done before the family party later that day.
Because I had the flowers around the outside, it only took 5 layers to fill up one trifle (the one with 2 rows of flowers). It took 7 layers to fill up the other trifle.
After the last layer set up, I took the larger poinsettia flowers and placed them on top of the trifles. I made 3 because I wanted to assure that 2 turned out good. (All 3 were great.) I took the extra one to the smaller Christmas Eve party at my in-law’s house.
After placing the large flowers on top of the trifles, I made one more recipe of the clear gelatin base. The I poured it around the edges with a little layer going over the top to make sure there was a nice flat top to the trifles.
I finished the last layer about 24 hours after I threw all the bad jello out.
Here’s some pictures of the final products.
The family Christmas Eve party had 59 people there this year. It’s full of family and cousins that I don’t get to see very often. Some who came in from across the country that I haven’t seen for years.
With all those people, these jello trifles were devoured in no time. Do I mind that it took me all day long and it was gone so fast? Nope these jello trifles are made out of love for the best party of the year.
How much Jello was that? I weighed each jello trifle and later subtracted the weight of the dish.
One jello weighed 7.3 lbs, the other weighed 7.8 lbs. In total, that’s 15.1 lbs of jello!
If you made it all the way to the end of this long post, what do you think of all this crazy jello making? I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.
Tips to Making Fabulous Danish Aebleskivers
One of my favorite family traditions are Aebleskivers also known as Æbleskivers, Ebleskivers or Pancake Puffs or Pancake Balls. We love these tasty round pancake/doughnuts. We always eat Aebleskivers at my parent’s house on Christmas Day. My mom would also make tons of these for the youth in my church after they had been to the temple for an activity.
This family recipe was passed down from my Danish Mormon Pioneer Ancestors. It truly is a family tradition for many generations. My grandmother always gave her grandkids an aebleskiver pan as a wedding gift so they could continue the tradition in their family.
Over the years, our family has come up with some great tips to help the process of making so many aebleskivers easier. Read on for some great tips.
First, there are a few different types of Aebleskiver Pans you can buy and not all pans are created equal. We have collected a few different types over the years and can tell you exactly which one is better than the rest.
First, you want to buy a cast iron pan. Not an aluminum pan! Cast iron pans will cook more evenly, and the aebleskivers don’t stick to it as much.
Next, look for an aebleskiver pan with a lip around the edge (see the pictures below). The first picture is of a cast iron pan with a lip. The middle two pictures are of the same cast iron pan with no lip. The last picture is an aluminum pan with no lip. The lip helps control the heat so much better and will help with uniform heat throughout the pan.
This Camp Chef Aebleskiver Pan from Amazon is exactly what I would recommend.
Once you have a great pan, there are a couple other tools that we like that you may want to get but aren’t necessary.
The Pancake Batter Dispenser has made making aebleskivers so much easier! Just put the batter into the dispenser and squeeze a little out over each hole in the pan. No more messes! We also use ours for pancakes, crepes, and cupcakes!
The next useful tool we use are little water bottles with handles. We fill them with oil so we can easily pour the right amount of oil into each hole. These are useful but not necessary.
Here’s a similar water bottle I found on Amazon that you could try.
Another useful tool is a no contact thermometer gun. My brother usually brings his. But didn’t this year. It’s great to check to make sure the oil it hot enough and not too hot. If you want to go high tech, give it a try.
Now that you have all the right tools, let’s get to making some aebleskivers.
This is our family set up for Christmas Day. My mom makes 6 times this recipe for about 30 people. We always have a few leftovers. My oldest brother is the Aebleskiver maker extraordinaire every year. We all bring our own pans and have 5 pans cooking at once. (We did not use the aluminum pan.)
Start to heat the pans on medium high heat. Add a little oil to each hole. You don’t want the heat to be too hot or too low. It may take a little bit to find just the right temperature so you don’t burn them and so they cook nicely. We find that cooking on a gas stove works better than an electric. But use what you have.
For an expert turn, you only should turn the aebleskivers 1/4th of the way then a little more and then all the way over. When we are making so many, we don’t take the time to make them perfectly round. So some have a little ring around them. But that’s all okay, they still taste delicious.
Adding fresh fruit or fruit puree/jam is optional. We like our with raspberries and blueberries.
Aebleskivers
Equipment
- Aebleskiver Pan
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 C flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 2 C buttermilk
- 2 eggs, separated
- 3 T melted butter
- fresh raspberries or blueberries, optional
- vegetable oil
Topping Idea
- powdered sugar
- maple syrup
- fresh fruit
- buttermilk syrup
- fruit syrup
- whipped cream
Instructions
Aebleskiver Batter
- Sift dry ingredients.
- Beat egg yolks, add to milk.
- Combine with dry ingredients.
- Add melted butter.
- Beat egg whites until peaks form.
- Fold egg whites into mixture.
Bake in Aebleskiver pan
- Add about 1 Tbsp oil into each hole of the aebleskiver pan.
- Heat pan until oil is hot.
- Fill each hole with the batter.
- Optional: you can add one or two raspberries or blueberries to each hole. Gently push into the batter.
- Cook until batter starts to cook around the edges.
- Flip aebleskivers over using a wooden skewer or fork.
- For an expert turn, just turn it a quarter of the way, then a little more, then flip all the way over. (Or just flip it once. They still taste delicious.)
- Cook for a couple minutes more until lightly browned.
Eat and Enjoy
- Top with your favorite topping and enjoy.
- Tip: these may look small, but they are filling. Don't eat too many. Serving size about 5-6 is perfect.
I hope you give these tasty aebleskivers a try. They are so delicious and a family favorite. I’d love to see your post or pictures if you try them. Tag me @thejellohome or leave a comment below.
Olaf “In Summer” Party
With the release of Frozen 2 this past month, everyone is loving their favorite characters again, especially Olaf. I wanted to share a birthday party from June of 2014.
My daughter and her best friend both wanted a Frozen Birthday party. The problem was they both had June birthdays. How do you do a Frozen birthday party in the summer?
You throw an Olaf “In Summer” combined birthday party.
As Olaf would say in Frozen 2, “I’ll Bring the Snacks!”
My friend painted this amazing Olaf stand up on a cardboard box. The kids all loved him and had to have their pictures taken with him.
She also made this great Olaf piñata from three balloons, paper mâché and pipe cleaners. Isn’t she amazing?
I made a cake using fondant for the first time ever. It was actually very easy.
Using the left over fondant, I rolled little Olaf snowmen for the tops of the cupcakes. For those who have more time, you can really make them look a lot more like Olaf with a few more details. Like a cute little carrot nose and some hair and eyes. But I was running short on time and the kids loved the cupcakes just the way they were.
Sorry for the poor lighting from 2014. Olaf would say, “Because when you’re older, absolutely everything makes sense.”
The kids were invited to come in their swimsuits. We had a kiddie pool, slip and slide, and other fun water games for them to play. We also had my mother’s professional ice shaver for some great snow cones.
If you want an amazing gift that keeps on giving, give them this snow cone maker!!! We gave it to my mom for Mother’s Day with my siblings a few years back and it was the best gift we ever gave her. Everyone loves to have a snow cone at grandma’s during the summer and you don’t have to have little frozen cups of water just for it. It uses any ice you have from your freezer or a bag of ice from the store. I HIGHLY recommend this!
Thanksgiving Jello Turkeys
The best creative minds seek to reuse and create art form unexpected places.
This past November, as we were getting ready for a family dinner one Sunday, my mom was about to throw out the packages from the fun Turkey Butter Sculptures she had bought when I said, “WAIT! Don’t throw those out. Can I have them and make some jello turkeys out of them for Thanksgiving?”
Of course my mom didn’t mind, she was going to toss the packages. But one man’s junk is another man’s treasure and I knew that I had just scored 4 amazing turkey molds.
I used Keller’s Turkey Shaped Butter Sculpture packages to make the turkeys. My mom found them at the grocery store, but knowing that these are seasonal products, I found a few options on Amazon that you can try if you can’t find these exact packages. Also, I know Keller’s has Christmas Tree Shaped Butter Sculptures around Christmas time.
I washed the plastic molds in soapy water to get the leftover butter out and then dried them. What I like about the Butter Sculpture packaging is that you can snap the packaging together, turn it upside down and open the flap on the bottom. That way you can pour the jello straight into the molds.
It only takes four simple ingredients to make the jello turkeys. It’s super easy! But you will want to follow a few tips to make everything go easier.
Expert Jello Tips
- First off, don’t use the regular Jello recipe on the box! Use the jello jiggle recipe or the recipe from this post.
- Second, don’t pour hot jello into the molds. Let it cool down for a few minutes or you may melt the plastic molds. You need to let it start to set up just a little.
- Third, Put the butter sculptures on a plate or tray before pouring in the jello. A little bit of jello may get out through the cracks and make. a mess.
- Fourth, make sure to give the jello enough time to set up in the refrigerator.
- Fifth, heat some water on the stove and pour into a large bowl. After the water has cooled down for a few minutes, dip the turkey molds into the water for about 4 seconds to help them release from the molds.
- DO NOT place the molds into boiling hot water! I did this with the first turkey mold and quickly melted the mold and the jello turkey in just a couple seconds. (See how the orange turkey on the back row in the first picture leans to the side.) Ooops!
I so enjoyed bringing these turkeys to Thanksgiving dinner. All the kids loved them and either ate a whole or a half turkey. It’s fun to hear the kids talk about eating the turkey head etc.
I’d love to see your jello turkey creations or other jello mold creations. Please comment and leave a link below.
Jello Jiggler Turkeys
Equipment
- turkey molds or other desired shapes
Ingredients
- 1 pkg Jello/ flavored Gelatin (6 oz.)
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 C ice
Instructions
- Pour gelatin into a medium mixing bowl. Add boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved and not grainy anymore.
- Add whipping cream and ice to mixing bowl. Stir until the mixture is chilled, but before it starts to set up. Remove any leftover ice cubes.
- Let the gelatin sit in the refriderator for 3 minutes.
- Pour chilled gelatin into the turkey molds.
- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until gelatin seem to be set up.
- When you are ready to get the gelatin out of the molds, boil a few cups of water. Pour into a clean mixing bowl. Let the boiling water cool down just a little bit.
- Gently dip the plastic turkey mold into the hot water for just a couple seconds. This will help the gelatin release from the edge and not stick. I only needed to dip the mold into the hot water for about 4 seconds. Time needed to dip the mold in hot water depends on the thickness of the mold and if it is made of plastic, glass, or metal.
- Carefully remove the gelatin from the mold and place on serving dish.
- Enjoy.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Colored Base for Gelatin Flowers
You will want this recipe for eye-catching, beautiful flowers that stand out from within the clear gelatin base.
When I first started making gelatin flowers, I started with ingredients that I already had in my pantry. However, the colors were translucent and not very vibrant. A few of the must have ingredients that I use to create beautiful colors for the gelatin base are whipping cream and white food coloring.
At first I used milk instead of cream, however, once seeing the difference in the flowers and especially tasting the difference, I use whipping cream instead. It makes so much of a difference.
Next, I started adding white food coloring. It just made the colors pop and so beautiful. Here are a couple links to some on Amazon. The Americolor is a better deal for 6 oz. But the Wilton 2 oz. bottle is enough to get you started.
You will also need some syringes and needles before you get started. I have seen posts where people use cut straws to do this, but it is so much easier with the right tools. There are tons on Amazon to choose from, but here are some of my favorites. Also, if you want a starter kit will all of the things you need to get going, Check out the Gelatin Art Starter Kit.
Colored Base for Gelatin Flowers
Equipment
- Syringes
- Needles or Flower Tips
- Pan on the stove with a warm water bath to keep gelatin from setting up
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp gelatin powder
- 3 Tbsp cold water
- 1 Cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 1 drop food flavoring
- 3/4 Tbsp white food coloring
Instructions
- First, make the clear gelatin recipe and make sure it is set before you begin creating the colored gelatin for the flowers.
- Mix gelatin with cold water and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Heat sugar with 1/2 Cup of cream in a sauce pan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when vapor appears above the surface, do not let it boil.
- Add gelatin and stir until completely dissolved, then add the remaining 1/2 Cup of cream.
- Stir in one drop of food flavoring.
- Mix in the white food coloring using an emulsion blender, or a regular blender if you don't have an emulsion blender.
- Put back onto the stove on a very low heat to keep the gelatin warm. Stir occasionally.
- Get the clear gelatin out of the refridgerator. Cut a small circular hole in the middle of the top of the set clear gelatin.
- Pour some of the colored gelatin base into a small bowl or glass. Color it with food coloring.
- Using a syringe and a needle, inject the colored gelatin into the clear gelatin base. Play around with different techniques and designs and colors. It is easier than it looks and fun to create.
- Keep the colored gelatin woarm in the water bath while you are creating with other colors. You don't want the gelatin too hot or too cold. Also having boiling water in a couple other cups in the water bath is good to clean the needles and syringes when needed so they don't get clogged.
- Have fun!
Creating a mess is just part of the fun! Here’s a behind the scenes picture of the mess I create while making a flower.
Can you tell which flowers were made without white food coloring and used milk instead of heavy whipping cream? I can. The first two flowers are so much more translucent than the last two flowers. Trust me. There’s is a huge difference in real life.
Thanksgiving Trifle… with meat?
Custard… Good.
Jam… Good.
Meat… Good.
Just kidding. But when I told my family that I wanted to bring a trifle to our preThanksgiving dinner last Sunday and my brother asked if I was going to add meat to it, all of the Friends Thanksgiving jokes started flying.
So obviously I had to make a little trifle especially for my brother with meat in it. Well, that’s what he thought due to what looked like a layer of ground beef in his mini trifle.
At first he wasn’t sure whether or not it was meat, but he came to the conclusion that it was ground beef due to one piece that wasn’t cooked fully and was still a little pink. (HAHA, it was just a little jello on it.)
Everyone dished up their Thanksgiving plates and sat down at the table to feast. Part way through dinner my brother finally got the nerve up to give his special trifle a bite. Digging in to make sure he had all of the layers he took his first bite with a grimace.
“That’s not meat!” He said. “Wait… don’t tell me. I know that flavor.” He took another bite. “It’s… Cracklin’ Oat Bran! Mmm! It’s even better! So good.”
Do you think I could actually put meat in a trifle. No. I can’t that’s just disgusting. So I crumbled pieces of Cracklin’ Oat Bran cereal up to small pieces that could pass for ground beef. It was a perfect substitute. And happens to be one of my brother’s favorite cereals. He loved his mini trifle even more than before and would not share.
I based this trifle off of my first favorite jello creation. I used to love looking through this book and creating fun jellos. But the one on the cover was by far my favorite. You can find a copy of this great vintage book here.
The trifle I made this year for Thanksgiving, was a little bit different than the book from the recipe. I used Scottish Shortbread instead of pound cake. I love the Scottish Shortbread because it didn’t get soggy and gross.
Also, it takes a little bit of finesse to get the fruit to stick to the side of the trifle and not float up.
HERE’S THE TRICK: LET THE JELLO SET UP A LITTLE IN THE FRIDGE FOR ABOUT 5 – 10 MINUTES BEFORE PUTING THE FRUIT IN. CAREFULLY USE A FORK OR SPOON TO PUSH YOUR FRUIT TO THE SIDE OF THE TRIFLE IN THE PLACE YOU WANT IT. IF THE FRUIT JUST WANTS TO FLOAT, TAKE IT OUT, WAIT A COUPLE MORE MINUTES AND TRY AGAIN.
The jello has to be a little set up for the fruit to stick or else it will just float.
Here is the easy recipe for this fabulous trifle. You can make it with or without the “meat”. Make it with what you have on hand. Switch out the gelatin flavors, the fruit, the shortbread. I’d love to see your trifles. Tag us #thejellohome or @thejellohome.
Strawberry Banana Pudding Trifle
Ingredients
- 2 packages (8 serving) Strawberry or Raspberry Gelatin
- 3 C boiling water
- 2 C cold water
- ice cubes
- 1 lb sliced fresh strawberries
- 2-3 sliced bananas
- 1 C Cracklin' Oat Bran (Crumbled) optional
- 2 packages Scottish Short Bread optional
- 1 package (8 serving) Instant Vanilla Pudding
- 3 C cold milk
- 8 oz. thawed Cool Whip
Instructions
- Dissolve one package of gelatin in 1 1/2 Cups of boiling water. Combine 1 Cup cold water and ice cubes to make about 1 1/4 Cups. Add to gelatin and hot water. Stir until the bowl feels cold. Remove any unmelted icecubes. 2. Pour into trifle dish. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes while you cut up the strawberries.3. Carefully add the strawberries to the gelatin layer using a fork and press to the side of the trifle dish. Note, if the fruit starts to float, remove the fruit, refrigerate for a few more minutes and try again. The fruit will not stick to the side of the dish unless the gelatin is slightly set up. 4. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until set. 5. Repeat first step: Dissolve the other package of gelatin in 1 1/2 Cups boiling water. Combine 1 Cup cold water and ice cubes to make about 1 1/4 Cups. Add to gelatin and hot water. Stir until the bowl feels cold. Remove any unmelted icecubes. 6. Do not pour the gelatin into the trifle dish yet. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes while you cut up the bananas.7. Now pour the chilled gelatin into the trifle dish. Note, adding a hot layer of gelatin to a cold layer of gelatin can ruin both layers. You want the gelatin to be chilled but not very set up. 8. Carefully add the bananas to last gelatin layer and press to the side of the trifle dish as in step 3.9. Refrigerate for at least 1 more hour or until set.10. Optional: Add layer of crumbled Cracklin' Oat Bran. Mmm… good. 11. In a separate bowl, combine Vanilla Pudding and milk. Mix with an electric mixer at a low speed until well blended. Set aside.12. Cut Scottish Short Bread in half. Line up around the edge of the trifle dish. 13. Now fold in thawed Cool Whip or whipped topping to the pudding bowl. Spoon into the trifle bowl. 14. Refrigerate for another hour.15. When ready to serve, garnish with additional whipped cream or whipped topping and sliced strawberries and bananas.
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#cracklinoatbran#scottishshortbread #yummy#getinmytummy #beautifulfood#jelloart #beautifuljello
#friendsfan#friendsthanksgivingepisodes#foodtrick #hethoughtitwasmeat#coolwhip #rediwhip#strawberriesandbananas
Simple Recipe for a Great Tasting Clear Gelatin
The first time I used clear gelatin for a recipe, I wanted a white color and only flavored it with milk. It tasted terrible. I steered clear of clear gelatin for years after that.
Then I decided to make gelatin flowers and knew I had to learn how to make a great tasting clear gelatin. This clear gelatin recipe is a winner. It is also the perfect consistency for creating beautiful gelatin flowers in.
First, there is a difference in clear gelatin. Not all clear gelatin is created equal. Some are a little yellow in tint while some are super clear. I prefer to use Super Clear Gelatin I bought on Amazon. It is crystal clear. You can find the link here. Some gelatins are made from different animals, you can find Kosher gelatin.
Also the bloom rating on gelatin can be different. The bloom rating ranges from 30 to 300. A higher rating will gel faster and be stiffer. What does it mean to bloom gelatin? If just means you add water to it and let it sit for 5 – 10 minutes. Doing this will ensure the gelatin will dissolve I the warm ingredients and won’t cause clumps or grainy residue.
First step, is to add your gelatin to a cup of water and let rest and bloom for 10 minutes.
Next, while your gelatin is blooming, mix the sugar, citric acid and remaining water in a saucepan and stir until clear and dissolved. Do not let the liquid come to a boil.
Do not add too much citric acid. I once added a Tablespoon of citric acid instead of a teaspoon and it tasted terrible! I made a beautiful flower, but nobody wanted to eat it.
Next, add your gelatin to the saucepan and stir until dissolved. Using a medicine dropper, add your food flavoring. Don’t add too much! Only a couple drops are needed. When I’m creating a clear gelatin, I always make sure to use a clear food coloring. I use the little containers of food coloring that you may be familiar with when flavoring suckers. It may be hard to find clear colors at the store, here is a link to some on Amazon.
Some of our favorite flavors are Strawberry-Kiwi, Cotton Candy, and Tropical Punch.
Finally, pour your gelatin mixture into the a bowl or container of your choice and refrigerate for a few hours until set.
Next, follow this link to the recipe for the opaque gelatin base to make your flowers.
Links to everything you need:
Clear Gelatin
Equipment
- medium saucepan
- medicine dropper
- bowl
- small whisk
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp clear gelatin powder
- 2 C sugar
- 4 C water
- 1 tsp citric acid powder
- 3 drops clear food flavoring
Instructions
- Mix gelatin with 1 cup of the cold water in a small bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. In a saucepan, heat sugar with citric acid powder and remaining 3 cups of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat when vapor begins to appear above the surface. Do not let it come to a boil. Take off heat.Add gelatin to saucepan and stir until completely dissolved. Using a medicine dropper, stir in just 3 drops of food flavoring. Go ahead and taste it to make sure flavor is right. Pour into desired containers and leave in the refridgerator until set.