Hawaii Sunrise Jell-o
I always have things in the pantry that remind me of the flavors of Hawaii. One local favorite that I can’t do without is Hawaiian Sun juice – it’s a must at parties. Another ‘must have’ at parties is Jell-o, so I thought, why not combine the two! It turned out to be a great addition to the dessert bar at my New Year’s Day party.
I took the idea of a layered jell-o recipe, but took the layers down a notch to make things easier. The Kid’s fave juice is Orange Passion and the Baby’s fave is Pineapple so I wanted to layer those flavors together and it looked like an early morning Hawaii sunrise to me.
The flavor of the juice really shined through and everyone at the party said it was the best Jell-o ever! Make this for your next party, I promise it will be a hit!
ingredients:
1 cup condensed milk
5 envelopes knox gelatin
2 (3 oz) boxes orange jell-o
1 (3 oz) box pineapple jell-o
Hawaiian sun Passion Orange juice
Hawaiian sun Pineapple Orange Nectar
The only place I’ve been able to find pineapple Jell-o was in Hawaii, so if you can’t find that you can substitute lemon Jell-o, no problem.
In a small bowl mix the condensed milk with 1 cup boiling water, set aside. In another bowl mix 2 envelopes Knox gelatin with 1 cup of boiling water, once combined add it to the milk mixture. Set aside.
In a bowl add the orange jell-o, 1 envelope Knox gelatin and 3/4 cups boiling water. Once the jell-o has dissolved add 3/4 cups Passion Orange juice. Let cool slightly, then pour into a 9×13 glass pan. Place in the refrigerator to set for about 30 minutes.
Once the first orange layer has set pour HALF of the milk mixture on top of the orange for the next later. Back in the fridge. Now each layer will only take 15 minutes to set – yay – much faster!
Combine the pineapple jell-o with 1 envelope Knox gelatin and 3/4 cups boiling water. Add 3/4 cups Hawaiian Sun Pineapple Orange Nectar. Let that cool a bit, then carefully pour it over the set white layer. Place in refrigerator to set for 15 minutes.
Almost there! Now that the yellow layer has set pour the other half of the milk mixture on top of the pineapple one for the next layer. Refrigerate to set, again – 15 minutes.
Finally, combine the other box of orange jell-o with 1 envelope Knox gelatin and 3/4 cups boiling water. Add 3/4 cups Passion Orange juice, cool, then pour over the white – this is the LAST layer!
Chill to set and cut into squares!
This recipe is EASY I promise you, the steps are simple once you get the hang of it and in the end you get a lovely edible work of art!
Broken Glass Jell-o Pie for the 4th of July
Broken Glass Jello (recipe, here) is a popular Hawaiian party food, but I remember seeing an olllld recipe where it was also made into a refrigerator pie. This is my Patriotic version – airy, and jello-y, perfect for the Fourth!
I made this pie as a gift for the Food Librarian. The gift came with a price, she had to take all the finished pictures for me and as always, her pics turned out amazing!
ingredients:
1 (6oz) package strawberry Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
1 (6 oz.) package blue Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
2 cups nilla wafer crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
1-1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup pineapple juice
3 Tablespoons cold water
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Prep the red Jell-o by mixing it with 2 cups boiling water. In a separate bowl prep the blue Jell-, also using only 2 cups boiling water. Pour each flavor into a separate square pans. Chill overnight.
For the crust, beat, crush your nilla wafers until you get fine crumbs. Then mix the crumbs and melted butter and press them into bottom of a 9-inch spring-form pan.
In a saucepan over medium high, heat the pineapple juice and sprinkle the gelatin on top. When the gelatin has melted remove from heat then add the cold water. Chill until slightly thickened.
In the bowl of an electric mixer whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold in the pineapple gelatin mixture until combined.
Cut up the chilled colored Jello and drop the squares in, carefully folding it so the jello doesn’t break.
Pour the mixture into the prepped crust and chill overnight.
Release the spring form pan, and serve! Cool and refreshing, the perfect pie for a summer holiday!
LEGO block Jell-o
This was part of the Kid’s LEGO party, here.
How is this different from regular ol’ Broken Glass Jell-o? Well it makes less and punches up the colors a bit more. You’ll see…
ingredients:
1 small box (3 ounces) strawberry jello – red
1 small box (3 ounces) blue berry jello – blue
1 small box (3 ounces) lemon jello – yellow
7 ounces (half a can) sweetened condensed milk
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
water
In separate bowls, dissolve each box of jello separately, into one cup of boiling water. Pour into individual containers (small tupperware works well) and chill overnight.
Once solid, cut the flavors of jello into LARGE blocks and mix together carefully in a 2 quart glass 8″ ×11″ pan.
In a separate bowl, dissolve the envelope of unflavored gelatin in 1 cup boiling hot water. Let cool a bit and then stir in the condensed milk. Cool to touch, then pour cooled milk mixture over jello and chill overnight. Cut into squares and serve.
You’ll see that there is LESS white in this than the traditional Broken Glass Jello. I wanted the color cubes to be larger and bolder but still have them all combine together into a pretty dessert. The kids loved this – especially since I used red, blue and yellow – very LEGO.
Han Solo in Grape Jell-o Carbonite
Made for the Ultimate Star Wars party (here)
Is this a recipe? Not so much, just an opportunity to play with toys.
ingredients:
6 ounces grape Jell-o
Han Solo action figure
Han Solo in carbonite is legendary, so I thought it’d be a fun party centerpiece to have him ‘frozen’ in grape Jell-o. I didn’t have the Han in carbonite figure, so with the short time I had I just used regular figure – to which the kids immediately said, “THAT IS NOT THE RIGHT OUTFIT, MOM.” Yeah, yeah, but you gotta make do with what you got.
I took the NEW in package Han and gave him a quick bath. You wouldn’t think I’d use a used toy in food would you? With my bacteria paranoia? No way.
Mix up the Jell-o according to package directions. Pour it into a 9×13 pan and set Han in there nice and gentle like. Chill and serve.
Yes, the figure is incorrect. But it’s still funny. And tasty.
Eventually Han will be free, and the kids will be happy to get an action figure! It’s like a fortune cookie – except cold and wiggly!
Jell-o
Colorful and fun – I make a lot of Jell-o for parties because it’s easy to prep ahead. Here are some sure to please ideas to serve at your next party!
Broken Glass Jello
This is a favorite – always pretty and your guests will be in awe at how you put this together. Hint: It was a cinch.
Layered Jell-o
This one takes a little more time, but it’s so worth it. When you cut it up the colors come out so evenly like a mini rainbow.
Ice Cream Jell-o
This one is just plain easy. Quick to make, it takes care of itself so that you can keep on party-prepping…
Christmas Broken Glass Jello
Just take the original recipe (here) and make it CHRISTMAS-Y!
ingredients:
2 small boxes strawberry jello
2 small boxes lime jello
1 can sweetened condensed milk (Like Eagle or something, got it?)
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
water
In a bowl, dissolve the strawberry boxes of jello into two cups of hot water. Pour into a flat tupperware. In a separate bowl, dissolve the lime jello into two cups of hot water. Pour into a flat tupperware. Chill the two containers overnight.
Ready a 9×13 pan.
Cut the two jello flavors into small blocks. Mix together carefully in the pan, set aside.
In a separate bowl, dissolve 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water. Add dissolved gelatin to 1 3/4 cup hot water and condensed milk. Cool.
Pour cooled milk mixture over jello and chill overnight.
These colors look so nice for the holidays, you’ll have a festive christmas dessert table!
Ice Cream Jello
I remember eating this as a kid, the fun part is the magical Jello separation. I thought this would be the perfect recipe to go with my baby shower party colors.
While the Broken Glass Jell-o and Layered Jello are gorgeous, this is pretty too in it’s own way, and oh so tasty.
ingredients:
2 large packages (6 oz each) Jell-o (any flavor)
1 packet of unflavored Knox gelatin
4 cups boiling water
half of a container of vanilla ice cream about 3/4 quart
In a large bowl combine the Jell-o, unflavored gelatin and the boiling water. Whisk until dissolved.
Now you want to quickly add the ice cream until it is melted and combined. I’ve found that exactly half of a container works well. Now, they’ve changed the size of these things, believe it or not, so one container of ice cream is now actually 1.5 quarts, it is no longer a half gallon!
Once mixed well, pour into a 9″ x 13″ pan. Refrigerate overnight, cut into squares and serve. If you are doing this for a party, I suggest putting the cut pieces into cupcake liners.
The ice cream will magically float to the top of the jello and you will have a creamy+jello concoction that looks like it took a lot of prep work. GREAT for parties!!
Layered Jello
This is an old, typical Hawaii potluck recipe for Layered Jello. Always gorgeous for parties!
Ingredients:
4 packages JELLO (3 oz each) -
orange, lime, blue rasberry, strawberry
6 envelopes KNOX unflavored gelatin
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
Mix 1 cup condensed milk with 1 cup hot water. Set aside. Mix 2 envelopes Knox gelatin with 1 cup hot water; combine with milk mixture and set aside
Combine Orange JELLO, 1 envelope Knox gelatin and 1-1/2 cups hot water. Cool, then pour into a 9×13 pyrex. Place in refrigerator to set for about 30 minutes.
*Note – the Hawaii version says to grease pan with mayonnaise – the thought of that makes me want to vomit. I hate mayonaisse. We just poured it in as is and it didn’t stick, thank god, cause everyone knows – mayonaisse=barf. HA!
Pour about 1 cup of the milk mixture for the next later. Refrigerate to set. Now each layer will only take 15 minutes to set – yay – much faster!
Combine lime JELLO, 1 envelope Knox gelatin and 1-1/2 cup hot water. Cook, and pour carefully over the milk mixture, then place in the refridgerator for another 15 minutes.
Repeat the milk mixture….
Now the blue raspberry…
Then the milk mixture…(I know this is boring but the payoff is worth it…)
Finally end with the strawberry! And set til you’re ready to serve…
The final product looks like this, and when you cut it…GORGEOUS!!
Jello Aquariums
ingredients:
4 oz or 6 oz clear plastic party cups
2 large boxes blue jello
12 gummi fish
whipped cream
Make Jello according to package. Fill the plastic cups. Chill in the fridge for about an hour, just as long as it’s not set. Put the gummi fish in each cup. They should look ‘suspended’ in the water. Return the cups to the fridge. When you are ready to serve, add some whipped cream ‘waves’ on top!
Sparkly Jello
Jello with a little extra something. Kids love it.
ingredients:
1 small package Jello (any flavor)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup Sprite
Put Jello mix in a bowl, add the boiling water and stir well until dissolved. Add the 1 cup of Sprite and again, mix well.
Pour into 4 dessert glasses. Refridgerate until set, about 3 hours. Serve with whipped cream.
**Note: Sometimes the top layer of the jello gets a little…hard. Kinda ew. I suggest scraping it off for a nice clean look and taste, but hey, that’s just me.
