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| Monet looks like he was wearing a beret for his photo! (Don't you wish more men would wear flowers in their mustaches?) |
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| Rainbow Jell-O! |
The idea behind the rainbow stripes is to have a darker layer and a lighter layer for each gelatin color to create a rainbow pattern. You'll need a bundt pan and a large empty space in your refrigerator.
I'm not going to lie to you about this one...this is an easy project, but it takes a LONG time! It isn't something to throw together in the morning and bring to the church potluck in the evening. It is this kind of dessert that you throw together the morning the day before you need it for the church potluck.
Put on the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle version of Pride and Prejudice or maybe Anne of Green Gables with Megan Follows and get busy. Here is what you need:
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| JELL-O - LOTS of JELL-O! (And some sour cream) |
3 oz. packages of each color of the rainbow of gelatin. (6 boxes plus 1 for a total of 7)
Violet - Grape
Blue - Berry Blue
Green - Lime
Yellow - Lemon or Pineapple (I like pineapple for this.)
Orange - Orange or Apricot
Red - Strawberry or Cherry
boiling water
1 quart of sour cream, vanilla yogurt, or Cool Whip
1 bundt pan
cooking spray
a paper towel
a kitchen timer
You need TWO packages of the last color of your rainbow. I began with the violet so I needed two packages of the red gelatin. If you begin your rainbow with red then you will need two packages of violet.
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| TWO packages of the last color. |
Stack up the gelatin boxes in the order they will be needed. You will need to remember: ROY G. BIV. Begin the stack with red on the bottom and follow the rainbow up from there.
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| Keeping track of the gelatin. |
Spray the bundt pan lightly with cooking spray and use a paper towel to wipe out the excess. Prepare your first color of gelatin with 1 1/4 cup of boiling water. COOL IT DOWN! You want the gelatin to be around room temperature before it goes into the bundt pan. If not, it will take forever to gel properly.l Pour 3/4 of a cup of prepared gelatin into the bundt pan to make the darker layer.
Put it in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. I found that I needed the full 20 minutes with my refrigerator.
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| Use and ice bath for quick cooling! |
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| Make sure you place your gelatin on a FLAT surface! |
Then add a big scoop (about 2 tablespoons) of sour cream to the remaining 3/4 cup of gelatin. COOL IT DOWN!
You can use vanilla yogurt or Cool Whip instead of the sour cream. I haven't tried the Cool Whip, but I did try yogurt when I made this recipe once before. I did not like the texture of the lighter layer. It kept separating while the darker layer was chilling. Also, I felt the finished dessert was too sweet for my taste. I wanted the tarter contrast that sour cream provides. I have not tried Greek yogurt. Either plain or vanilla might work beautifully because of the thickness, and the tartness could be just perfect. Try it and let me know...m-kay?
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| I wasn't very precise about this! |
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| Here is the whipped layer. |
You can't run errands while you do this because you don't want the gelatin to be completely set. You want it to be a little bit tacky. That way the next layer will glue itself to the prior layer. If the lower layer gets too set, the next layer will just slide off once the dessert gets un-molded.
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| The gelatin should stick to the back of a spoon just a little. |
Pour the lighter layer onto the darker layer and chill for 10 - 15 minutes. Again, I needed the entire 15 minutes. (I don't think my refrigerator is very cold.)
*Pour the gelatin over the back of a spoon.* The spoon slows down the descent of the liquid so it does not puncture the previous layer. This will also happen if the liquid is too hot when you pour it.
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| Slowly |
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| Slowly |
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| Slowly |
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| This spot happened because my liquid was too hot. |
Keep building first a darker layer, then the lighter layer with each color of gelatin.
You can make all of your gelatin colors all at once at the beginning or make one at a time as you build each layer. The gelatin may gel too much sitting out on your counter before going into the fridge so they might need a bit of a warm. If you make them all at once, you won't need an ice bath for more than the first two colors or so. Also, just keep them covered with plastic wrap until you need them. I make my colors one at a time.
Prepare one whole package of your final color with water and another whole package with water and sour cream. It makes for easier math.
Chill the finished mold in the refrigerator overnight!
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| Just chillin' in the fridge! |
Put your prepared pan or platter over the top of the bundt pan.....and........FLIP! The pan should slip right off without any resistance whatsoever! AND...Voila! Rainbow Jell-o! You might want to pop it back into the fridge for a few minutes to firm up the outsides, or you can just slice it and serve!
MMMMM...RAINBOW JELL-O!
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| Release the gelatin mold! Release it, I say! |
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| You are getting sleepy...sleepy! |
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| See, I told you. SLEEPY! |
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| Side View! |
You might find these other perfect-for-summer posts at Greetings From the Asylum interesting...What do you think....
Just in time for your summer vacation put together a TRAVEL BACKPACK or two (or more). My kids loved them and yours will too! Decorate festively for the Fourth of July with this FABULOUS WREATH! You'll be the hit of the summer barbecue when you bring either POTATO SALAD or DEVILED EGGS. They never disappoint!
Thanks for visiting! Come back soon! ;)
