Cranberry sauce..with a twist

On this Thanksgiving, I decided to make a little variation on tranditional cranberry sauce. I followed the recipe on the bag to make the sauce and then added some sugar free cranberry gelatin I found at the local grocery store and alcohol. But since this is the SCIENCE and art of gelatin shot making, I tried a different recipe for cranberry sauce and gellified as well as liqiuorified that one too. That was sample B.


After some tastings by the family, the choice was clear. Sample A won overwhelmingly. (Sample size=5).

Sample A was made with cranberries, sugar, and water. I boiled them until the berries popped. Then mixed in the raspberry gelatin, cooled and added Absolut mandarin and some triple sec.

Sample B was made with cranberries, an orange, and sugar. I chopped them in a food processor and blended them into boiling water and gelatin.

Again, Sample A was the winner.

Upon telling a neighbor about the experiment, he asked if I had molded them into the shape of a tin can.

D'oh!

So I rushed right out and got more ingredients. And here's the final finished product.

Somewhere over the Endzone...

Hello All,

Here is a creation from last week's Flag Football Superfabulous Bowl. I needed to make a shot that reflected the colors of all the teams as well as the out and proud nature of the league. However, when it came to silver I got stumped. But here are the 12 layered pride shots.






The key to making these shots, was to prepare all the gelatin ahead of time. I poured them into plastic cups at room temperature. Then I'd pour one layer, let it sit in the fridge until think and then add another layer. It took me three hours to make from start to finish.



But just look at the satisfied faces of some of the footballers.

Football Field Fun!

We had a team flag football party the other weekend which got me thinking, "how could I make an actual football field jello shot?"

I decided to make a two layered shot with a topsoil layer below and a grass layer on top. I also garnished it with field lines and cones. To make the top soil, I needed to make brown. For reasons not needing explanation, Jell-o brand gelatin does not make brown jello. What, perhaps, would be the flavor? Maybe Durian. If you know any product managers at Kraft Foods, feel free to pass along my idea.

I decided to boil cola and add purple gelatin. This is what I did for the coffin shots, but Grape was absent from the store but they did have Blackberry fusion. That'll do pig.

For the grass, I didn't want the layer below to show through, so I made a lime green jello and added some yogurt to make it opaque. It also added a pastel green color to the grass that I liked.

The field gold lines were made with decorative frosting and the cones from Candy Corns.

Needless to say, the field was devoured in minutes.

Spooky shots

The are Halloween inspired gelatin shots. I tried to make dark black, yet see through gelatin coffins with skeletons and bats inside. To make the hidden treasures, I used gummy Halloween candies.

Ingredients

2 cups cola
2 envelopes unflavored Knox gelatine
1 6oz. box of Grape Jello
2 cups Svedka Vodka
Gummy Halloween Candies

In making these I learned that gummy candies sink right to the bottom and make it difficult to remove the shots from the pan. It might help to let the gelatin sit in the fridge until tacky and then put the candies into the pan. In addition, gummy candies will absorb moisture and expand, There are best when made and eaten within a couple hours.

Have fun.

Orange Jello, Marshmallow, Tuna fish Surprise!

Well, not really. This gelatin shot mold was inspired by Miss Richfield 1981's song. I substituted Orange jello for Lime Jello and Pineapple for tuna fish. Although tuna...... No, I'm not that adventurous. As we were playing the Orange Team in Flag Football I went for the orange. For those who don't know, every Saturday I make a jello shot creation for the color of the team against whom were playing. Today it's the team "Smashing Pumpkins".

Today's recipe calls for:

2 envelopes of Knox unflavoured gelatin
1 6oz box of orange gelatin
2 cups hot water
1 8oz can of crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup of mini marshmallows
1 cup Svedka vodka

And of course a cool retro gelatin mold. Back in the 60's a salad didn't mean a bowl of mixed veggies. It meant a couple of veggies embedded in gelatin and cottage cheese.

Dissolve the two Knox envelopes in a bit of cold water in a bowl. Let sit for 1 minute. Boil the water and add to the moistened Knox and add the Orange Jello powder. Stir for two minutes. You may need to microwave the mixture for two minutes to further dissolve the mixture.

Further stir and wait for the mixture to cool to room temp. You can speed it up by putting the bowl in a freezer for 5 minutes. Add the alcohol.

Put the bowl back in the freezer and allow the mixture to get thick but not not solid-approximately 20 minutes. Othewise the fruit will sink and marshmallow will just float to the top.

When its gotten thick, add the fruit and marshmallows. Stir and pour into a jello mold. You can spray the inside of the mold with grapeseed oil or some other unflavored oil to later help remove the solid jello from the mold.

Refrigerate for up to 2 hours. The extra unflavored gelatin will speed up the solidifying process so you can eat in three hours and you can cut it up and serve as finger. However if left in the fridge overnight, it will be gummy. For a less firm version that you would eat with a spoon, omit the Knox and refrigerate for six hours.

A luvin spoonfull of gelatin!

Hello all,

Just got back from Ptown where we had a stormy, but fun time. While I was there I whipped up a batch of crowd pleasing Pineapple and Malibu rum jello shots. I fortified the shots with some regular bacardi as Malibu is only 21% alcohol. And what a serendipitous meeting did these shots lead to.

While having drinks at the Boatslip, I started a conversation(surprise) with two good looking guys with funny tee-shirts. After mentioning to them that I make jello shots, one of the guys tells me he loves, loves, loves them. Then, the other, mentions that he used to be a jello shot boy at a strip club years ago. Hello! How fun is that! But there's more.

We invited them back to the house and the tasting began. They really loved the shots. Then it came to pass, as having several of my jello hosts can do to loosen the tongue, that one guy now does adult films. Gelology has hit a new height in celebrity-ism. What a great day for gelology PR!

So the next day I came up with a new recipe for the boys. Here are the yet to be named shots.

1 3oz box of raspberry jello
1 envelope knox unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup perrier sparkling water
3/4 cup smirnoff raspberry vodka
1/4 cup peach schnapps

Pour a little of the OJ in a pan and sprinkled the knox over the OJ. Boil the remaining orange juice in a glass in the microwave for 3 minutes. Pour the OJ into the pan and dissolv the knox. Then stir in the jello powder. To further dissolvem put the pot on a low flame and stir for a minute. Remove from flame and then cool by adding the perrier. When cooled to room temp, pour in alcohol and stir for a minute. Pout into a container and refrigerate. Ready to eat in an hour and a half.

The color of these shots was amazing. A deep ruby red. The boys came over and loved them. After some brainstorming on how to combine the porn industry and jello shots, the yet to be named adult film actor (YTBNAFA) came up with the idea of jello jizzlers. Love the name. I'll leave the rest to the imagination.

So a pretty sucessful couple of days in Ptown if I say so myself.

Cherry Cola Gelatins

Hello All,

I went cherry picking last week, which inspired me to make a batch of my favorite gelatin treats-Cherry Jello and Coca-cola that you eat off the stem.

These are the most labor intensive shots that I make (aside from the 14 layered Pride shots)


Ingredients to make fifteen shots.
1 3 oz. box of cherry jello
1 envelope of knox unflavored gelatine
2 cups cola (8 oz.)
1 cup berry vodka, or vanilla vodka, or white rum
15-20 pitted cherries on the stem (either sweet or tart cherries work, marachino cherries need to be drained) (for extra kick, soak the cherries in the alcohol of your choice for up to half an hour)



1) pour 1/4 cup of cola into a microwave proof bowl. Sprinkle the knox gelatin over the cola to moisten*

2)Microwave the remaining 1-3/4 cups cola in a microwave proof measuring cup for 4 minutes. Prep the cherry jello package by removing from box and tearing open envelope.

3) Carefully remove the measuring cup with a hot mit and pour over the moistened* knox. Stir with spoon and begin to add the cherry jello. Stir for one minute

4) Put bowl of cola and jello into the microwave. Zap on high for 1-1/2 minutes. Remove with hot mits and stir for two minutes. This ensures all gelatin dissolves.

5) Let cool to room temperature. You can put the bowl in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to aid cooling. DO NOT LET IT START TO SET!

6) While the mixture is cooling, pit the cherries. If you want to soak them in booze, pit and soak the cherries a half an hour before starting step one.

7)Add the alcohol to the gelatin mixture and stir one minute. Pour half the contents into to-go container. I use the ones from a restaurant around the corner. Otherwise a 9x9 pan will work.

8)Place the pan in the fridge and begin to set the cherries. If you add too much gelatin mixture they will float around. You can cut off the bottom of the cherries for stability.


9)Let sit in the fridge until the gelatin gets tacky. Then pour the remaining gelatin mixture to cover the cherries.

10)Let sit for two hours. Remove with a spoon for a rounded edge or cut with a knife.

11)Enjoy!


*I hate the word moist. But it's applicable here.