In honor of jello week, please take note: Jello isn’t just for jiggly salads and desserts, it has lots of different yummy uses!
Jello popcorn balls
1 C. light corn syrup
1 small box sugar free or regular flavor jello, any flavor
1 C. Sugar
4 quarts air- popped popcorn
Whisk corn syrup, jello, and sugar together in a pot and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute. Pour over popcorn and mix well with a large spoon. When mixture is cooled just enough to touch, grease hands and form into balls.
* I got this recipe from the simply de*lite*ful cookbook, which by the way has some very good recipes!
Now Go Get Poppin’ and Have Some Jello Joy!
Celebrate Jello Week with these yummy treats! What kid could resist them? So cute! How fun would they be in a lunch box or for a holiday or party treat! You can do them in any color for any theme: red for Valentines, red and green for Christmas, orange for Halloween, green for St. Patricks, red and blue for 4th of July etc.
My kids were not in agreement as to the name of these treats. On the Kraft website http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/easy-marshmallow-pinwheels-51697.aspx they are called Gelatin Pinwheels, but some of my kids thought that fruity roll-ups sounded better. Either way they are fun, easy and delicious!
Gelatin Pinwheel/ Fruity Roll-Ups
1 (3 oz.) pkg. jello
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
Lightly spray an 8 or 9 inch pan square pan with non-stick cooking spray and make sure it is spread well.
Stir together water and jello powder in a glass bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Remove bowl and stir well making sure jello is dissolved. If necessary, return to microwave for 20 seconds or so to make sure jello is dissolved and stir again.
Add marshmallows and return to microwave for 20-40 seconds or until marshmallows have just begun to puff. This is the key to a successful marshmallow layer! If you over cook the marshmallows, they just dissolve and your roll-up will not have two distinct layers.
Whisk quickly until marshmallows are dissolved.
Pour quickly into prepared pan and chill in fridge for 45 minutes or until well set. Creamy layer will float to the top.
Remove the pan from fridge. At this point, the jello should be very firm and easy to handle. Gently pull one side away from pan and lift entire sheet onto counter. Starting at one end, roll up tightly. With seam side down, cut into 10-12 (1/2) inch slices. We found it easiest to cut with a piece of thread or dental floss. Just put the string around roll-up, cross and pull.
Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Now Go Spread Some Fruity Gelatin Pinwheel Joy!
We are linked to the link party on fingerprints on the fridge, Tatertots and jello and So you think you are crafty,go there and check out all the other cool links!.
* Check out our cookbook giveaway here.
I don’t think I’ve seen more whoopie pies in my life. It seems every magazine, cooking blog, recipe book etc. is featuring whoopie pies. So I figured, why not? We should join the crowd! When I saw this recipe for jello frosting on http://coleensrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/11/kid-friendly-jello-frosting.html I knew it would be a perfect fit for Valentines Day. In addition, today is Eunice’s birthday: WHOOPIE!!! Happy Birthday girl. Hope you have a fabulous day filled with lots of jello joy!
For the whoopie pies, I used a recipe from Family Fun. http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/whoopie-pies-975408/
Whoopie Pies
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup softened butter- not melted, just soft
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1. Heat oven to 350. In a bowl or zip-lock bag mix: flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix and set aside.
2. Cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla.
3. Add half the flour mixture to creamed butter mixture and mix. Then add half buttermilk and mix. Add remaining flour mixture, mixing well and remaining buttermilk and mix well.
4. With a spoon (I like to use a small cookie/ice cream scoop to get a uniform shape and size) scoop out batter onto a prepared cookie sheet. (I like to use parchment paper.)
5. Bake for 8 minutes at 350. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet.
Whoopie Pie review: These cookies are perfect for whoopie pies- just be careful, if you overcook or if the butter is melted rather than just softened they will go flat and thin. Then they are too thin and delicate. They would make a yummy cookie for an ice cream sandwich.
Jello Frosting/Filling
3 ounce pkg. of raspberry or strawberry jello
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg white
Place the above ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Turn mixer on high and then slowly stream 1/2 cup boiling water over ingredients. Whip on high for five minutes- occasionally scraping down the bowl.
Spoon filling onto cookie- again a little cookie scoop works great. Top with another cookie and press lightly.
*Frosting Review: This is truly a unique frosting. It has a bit of a marshmallowy texture. It is very light and fluffy. It is best to decorate right away as it sets up a bit. I think that I would prefer a more traditional filling on whoopie pies, but it would be great on cupcakes. The best part is, you can use any flavor you want ie: blueberry for 4th of July, orange for Halloween etc.
Now Go Make Some Whoopie Pies and Have Some Jello Joy Today!
A jello love potion, just in time for Valentines!
Sparkling Jello Love Potion
1 Tblsp. unflavored gelatin
4 cups chilled sparkling red grape juice, divided
2 Tblsp. sugar
In a small pan, sprinkle gelatin over 1 cup sparkling juice; let stand for 1 minute. Add sugar and heat over medium heat stirring until gelatin and sugar are dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup sparkling juice. Cool to room temperature- about 30 minutes on counter, or you can speed it up by placing pan in a sink or bowl of ice water. (You do not want gelatin to thicken, just cool down.)
Pour gelatin into a large bowl-gelatin may foam up. Slowly stir in remaining sparkling juice and mix well. Reserve 1/2 cup, and pour remaining mixture into eight champagne glasses. Leave reserved gelatin at room temperature. Chill champagne glasses for about 1 hour or until slightly thickened. Whip reserved gelatin until very foamy- use your hand held mixer with wisk attachment or blender. Spoon into glasses and chill until set.
This is my kids favorite thing to do with it:
Now Go Make a Potion and Have Some Jello Joy Today!
Jello Girl and Eunice here with another idea to take your Valentines to a new dimension! No other food says romance better than chocolate and berries, so today in preparation for Valentines we will make chocolate raspberry cake balls- and yes jello is included. They are easy to make and you can decorate them any way you like- let your imagination run wild!
Chocolate Raspberry Cake Balls
1 package chocolate cake mix
1 small box raspberry jello
1(16 oz.) container chocolate frosting
Chocolate chips or dipping chocolate
Crisco
1. Pour cake mix and dry jello into a large bowl. Mix and then add ingredients as cake mix directs. Pour batter into 9×13 pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake according to cake mix directions for 9×13 pan. (They cake may may not be perfectly smooth on top- do not worry
2. When cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl and stir in the frosting. Mix until well blended.
3. Roll into about 1 inch round balls. I like to use a small cookie scoop to help me keep them uniform- although after I have scooped them all out I roll between my hands to give them a more round shape. Chill in fridge or freezer until firm.
4. Melt chocolate (see tips below), dip balls and decorate if desired.
Tips:
You can use any chocolate you like to dip. I like using chocolate chips because I always have them on hand. For me, the balls are easier to dip if the chocolate is a thiner consistency. I like to add 1 tsp. crisco per 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Put 1-2 cups chocolate chips in a small pyrex measuring cup or tall, narrow microwavable container. Add crisco. Melt on full power for 30 seconds. Stir and place back in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well and if needed place back in microwave for 10 second intervals, stirring well each time. Remove when all the chips are almost melted. Keep stirring until all chips are melted and incorporated. If you get chocolate too hot, it will have white streaks in it after it sets up.
I like to use a long skewer to dip balls. I then place them on parchment paper and use a toothpick to help push ball off as I pull skewer out.
At this point, there will be a small hole at the top. I use one of my fingers to give the chocolate a swirl to cover the hole.
Then decorate as desired and place in the fridge to allow chocolate to set-up.
Now Go Have Some Cake Ball Jello Joy Today!
Are you still trying to figure out what to do for your valentine? You can count on us, your friendly super jello heroines. We are here to save the day!
This recipe does take some planning. First you will need to make some marshmallows. I think I have finally found the recipe that I like, I combined 2 different recipes and this is what I came up with.
Jello Flavored Marshmallows
1- 3oz package jello (I used strawberry)
2- envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 C. Cold water
1 2/3 C. Sugar
2/3 C. light corn syrup
1/4 C. water
1/4 t. salt
1 T. Vanilla extract
Powdered Sugar
Line a pan with wax paper and spray with non-stick spray (I used an 8×11.5 pan but they were too tall, I had to cut the marshmallow hearts in half. Next time I think I will use a 9×13)
In bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin and jello over 1/2 C. cold water. Let soften for about 10 min.
Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 C. water in a small saucepan, bring mixture to a rapid boil and let it boil for 1 min. Pour syrup mixture onto gelatin and jello mixture. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed. Add salt and beat for 12 min. After 12 mins., add vanilla and beat to incorporate.
Spray a rubber spatula with non-stick spray and pour into prepared pan using the rubber spatula. Gently press some plastic wrap, sprayed with non-stick spray onto the top of the marshmallows to create a seal. Let mixture sit several hours or over night until cooled and set.
Lightly dust counter with powdered sugar and dump the marshmallows out. Cut into pieces and dredge in powdered sugar. I have found that scissors work the best for cutting the marshmallows, if you just want to make square marshmallows or dip a cookie cutter in powdered sugar and cut into shapes. You may have to wash the cookie cutter every so often, when it gets too sticky. Store in an airtight container.
Next you will need to make the cookies. I found the recipe on The Birthday Blog. The first pan I made, I cooked for 15 minutes like the recipe said to do. I didn’t consider that the cookie they made was much bigger than the ones I made and when I pulled them out of the oven they were black. So in my oven it only took 6 minutes for smaller cookies.
The next step is the easiest, just melt some chocolate and sandwich the cookies and marshmallows together, and decorate any way you like.
Now go and have some jello s’mores joy!
*I linked up on the link parties over on fingerprints on the fridge and Tatertots and jello, go check out the other cool links.
You read that wrong-striping NOT stripping! Come on–look at the pictures. Where is your mind?
Oh boy am I ever going to get some interesting comments on this one: 99% of all comments we get are spam and most of those are for porn sites- ugh… double ugh!
Jello super-heroines definately do not appreciate this! Jello is wholesome. It is all about family, friends, fun… and don’t forget romance. This week we have some ideas to make your Valentines unforgettable!
Striped Valentines Jello
4 (3 oz.) pkg. red jello
2 unflavored pkg. gelatin
2 cups cold milk
2 cups sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla
In a medium pan add 4 cups of water and red jello. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and stir until jello is completely dissolved. Turn off heat and add two cups cold water, stir to combine. With a ladle, measure out 1 3/4 cup and pour into lightly greased 9×13 pan or desired serving dish or dishes. Place in fridge and chill for 30 minutes or until set. Meanwhile sprinkle 2 pkg. of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water in a medium pan. Let sit for 1 minute and add 2 cups milk and 1 cup sugar. Heat over medium-high heat stirring until sugar and gelatin are dissolved. Turn off heat and add 2 cups sour cream and 2 tsp. vanilla; whisk to combine. When first layer is set, gently spoon 1 1/2 cups over first layer and return to fridge for 30 minutes or until firm. Then repeat process with 1 3/4 cups red jello and 1 1/2 cups white until you have 7 total layers. It is best to keep red jello and white mixture slightly warm. You can keep pans on stove-top and occasionally turn heat to simmer for just a few minutes. Then give a stir and turn off heat.
A few tips: (Hopefully these will not make it sound complicated: it is not! It does take sometime, but most of it is time sitting in the fridge between layers.)
1. If the jello you add is not warm it will not adhear well to previous layer and when you serve it, the layers may slip apart.
2. You can keep jello slightly warm on stove-top until you measure out amount to be layered. You can keep pans on stove-top and occasionally turn heat to simmer for just a few minutes. Then give a stir and turn off heat.
2. The layers need to be firm before adding another layer or they will be more likely to mix into jello that you are adding.
3. Gently- ever so gently- spoon gelatin over previous layer. Otherwise, previous layer will get pits in it and will also melt and streak into jello that you are adding.
4. If you are doing jello layers in individual serving dishes that will remain in serving dishes, you do not need to worry about layers sliding apart when you dish out servings; therefore, it is better to have previous layer very firm and the jello that you are adding slightly chilled, but not thickened. This way your lines will be very distinct which looks really cool in a glass. (If you look closely you can see that my lines are not very distinct because I was in a hurry and wasn’t very particular about it.) You can keep jello slightly warm on stove-top until you measure out amount to be layered. (Then quickly put the container holding this jello in a bowl of ice water. Since the jello from stove-top is just warm, it will only take a minute or so for measured amount to chill.)
5. The thicker the layers, the longer they will take to set.
Now Go Stripe and Have Some Valentines Jello Joy!
Now you can be a jello super star and make fruit snacks of your own! Your kids will adore you, you will astound your neighbors and your friends will admire you. Awhile back I saw a recipe for making homemade fruit snacks. Then today I came across some heart candy molds. I decided that it was time to try making valentines fruit snacks. It was surprisingly easy, all you need is…
1- 3oz box of any flavor of jello
2 packets of unfavored gelatin
1/2 C. Water
Candy molds
(We recommend very small candy molds-close to the size of a gummy bear. If they are too much bigger you will have too much chewy-ness in one bite which isn’t a good thing.)
Place 1/3 cup water in a small sauce pan. Sprinkle the Jello and unflavored gelatin over the water. Let sit 5 – 10 minutes.
Put sauce pan on stove over medium heat and stir until gelatin is dissolved, it will be a weird congealed lumpy consistency. Stir for about 2-5 minutes. When mixture is liquid and all gelatin has dissolved, remove from heat. Let cool a minute and then pour into a container that is easy to pour from: an easy squeeze bottle or a syringe works well for small molds.
Pour mixture into molds and let cool all the way and set up. It takes about 20 minutes on your counter. My kids didn’t want to wait that long so we put them in the fridge for 10 min. They pealed out of the molds just fine, no need for oiling the molds.
Now go and have some jelly fruit snack joy!
This dessert is so easy and a perfect compliment to any Asian cuisine. See the post on Lemon Take-Out Chicken for a completely jello jiggling meal.
Almond Jelly
2 cups water
2 envelopes plain gelatin
2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
