Mango Chili Lime Shots

Hello Fellow Gelologists,

A friend of mine is traveling in Guatemala with her five year old son. Adventurous you might say, but that's Kristen. The two of them are having a great time and easting some of the most delicious fruit imaginable. Four years ago I traveled there with my friend Claire and stayed in the city of Antigua. There was an enormous mango tree just on the edge of her block. The fruit from this tree was amazing. Even better, was the lime juice and chili powder we added to the sweetest mangos ever tasted.

So here is a Guatemelan inspired gelatin shot.

Mango Lime Chili Madness

2 cup Mango nectar

4 envelopes unflavored gelatin

2 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp lime juice

1/2 cup Tequila

1/2 cup Lime Captain Morgan Rum

1/2 cup Margarita mix

1/2 cup Triple Sec

Chili powder

In a microwave proof bowl, sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over the mango, lime juice, and sugar until boiling. If the mango juice is from fresh mangoes, you must boil it first and then let cool. Otherwise, enzymes inside the mango will breakdown the gelatin. If the juice is pasteurized, no problem. Stir, let cool, then add the alcohol.

Pour the mixture into molds or a baking dish and refrigerate for two hours.

Before serving, lightly sprinkle lime juice and chili powder on the top.

Enjoyemente!

Minty Julep

Hello fellow gelologists,

Exciting news on the Astrobiology front. As of Friday night, astrobiologist Dr. Richard Hoover published findings of alien bacteria-like fossils found in a meteorite. Now, I will await more information, but this is a peer reviewed journal, so I give it credit. Where do we go from here?! Was life on Earth started by life from another planet? Stay tuned...

So how can we celebrate this finding, by making a gelatin shot. Okay, there's not connection between the science story and today's shots, but if you look at the photo, they seem inspired by such a mystery. Translucent pyramids, flecks of green leaves, alcohol. Yes, it's definitely the direct translation of a peer reviewed science article.

This mint julep shot was requested by Dante, who came over on Friday to explore his jello shot making ability. In fact, three friends were invited to design a shot. Normally, I spend my Friday nights making shots by myself. But then I thought, the shots make parties social, why not the making of them?

So here are the Dante's creations:

Mint Simple Syrup

1 cup water

1/2 cup mint leaves

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bourbon

In a small pot, heat the water, sugar and mint leaves to boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for half an hour. Strain the syrup to remove leaves.

Mint Julep Shot

1 cup mint simple syrup

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup chopped mint leaves

Rootbeer Reboot

Hello fellow gelologists,

While at the local liquor store I stumbled upon a new product, well, new to me- alcoholic whipped cream. It's canned whipped cream infused with alcohol. The makers of this product come from Temperance, MI. Yes, Temperance. The irony. If you go to their website, you can read about their peculiar history and how they ended up there.

But I don't want to go on and on about alcoholic whipped cream. I'd rather do that with gelatin shots!

Today's shots are a revisit to some rootbeer shots, called Floaters, I made a couple of years ago. They were very basic and not very beautiful. But these are much, much, more noteworthy.

Rootbeer Rebooted
5-10 pieces of old fashioned rootbeer candy
1 cup of rootbeer, flattened
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup vodka
1/4 cup vanilla vodka
1/4 cup rootbeer schnapps

Optional
Alocohol infused whipped cream
Pretezel- the curvy kind.

To make the Rootbeer infused vodka, add the cup of vodka and candies into a glass container. Leave for several hours to dissolve. Strain the vodka through a sieve to remove any solids.

In a microwave proof bowl, add the Rootbeer and sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over liquid. Microwave for 2-4 minutes until hot. Remove, cool, and add the alcohols.

For molds, I used some small plastic shot glasses I found at the grocery store. Lightly oil the inside of the glass and wipe off excess with a paper towel. Add the liquid and refrigerate for two hours.

To remove, use your finger to break the seal of the surface and then holding the shot glass with you opening away from you, using your fingers to cover the top, give quick shakes. This is how your supposed to get the ketchup out of the bottle, not the repetitive shakey-shake we all do.

Top with the cream and for added effect, break off the curvy part of the pretzel and add to the side to make it look like a mug handle!


Cheers!

Valentine's Day Revisited

Hello Gelophiles,

Valentine's Day may long gone, but for those who didn't officially celebrate due to myriad reasons, why not make March 5th YOUR official Valentines Day. Maybe your previous day was sweet, maybe it was sour. So why not combine the elements of both into one delicious gelatin shot?!

These are my layered Strawberry Supreme Sour Cream Shots.

Strawberry layer
1 6oz box of Strawberry gelatin
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup pureed frozen strawberries in syrup
3/4 cup cold water

1/2 cup Vanilla Vodka
1/4 cup Strawberry pucker
1/4 Light rum

Sour Cream Layer
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 Tablespoon sugar

In a microwave proof bowl, mix the strawberry puree, strawberry gelatin, and cold water. Sprinkle the 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin and let absorb. Microwave for 4 minutes until the mixture is hot and the gelatin dissolve. Watch for over boiling!

Let the mixture cool and stir in the alcohols. (Is the plural of alcohol alcohols?) Anyways, irregardless, add the alcohols.

Prepare the sour cream layer. Add the sour cream to another microwave proof bowl and add the 1/2 cup water. Sprinkle on the unflavored gelatin and let absorb. Heat for 2 minutes, mix and cool.

Add half of the Strawberry mixture into your baking pan or fill just less than half of your silicon mold for layer one.

Place in the fridge and let it get semi-solid and spoon on the sour cream layer. Let it set again and add the remainder of the final strawberry layer. Let it set for 2 hours or place in the freezer to speed set. Top with chocolate shots or a small dollop of sour cream.

These tangy, tart and sweet shots will be just right to soothe the sordid heart.

Enjoy!

And the Oscar goes to......

Hello Gelophiles,

Although it is snowing outside here in Boston, out in LA, the sun is shining and the red carpet is uhm... carpeting. It is that time of year when directors, producers, and actors pat themselves on the back....again. But this time it's the Academy Awards. Most people will be watching for Best Movie, Best Actor, Best Dressed. I am looking for most translatable into a jello shot.

The best contender so far is for Black Swan. It's those crazy huge pupiled, blood shot eyes that I see when I think of the film. So, here's my version of the movie in Jelluloid.

Black Swan Song Shots

For the black Pupils-
1 3 oz box grape jello
1 3 oz box lime jello
2 cups cola- flattened
1 envelope unflavored gelatin

For the white of the eyes-
1 1/4 cups water
2 enveloped unflavored gelatin
1/2 vodka
1/4 cup blackberry schnapps

Using a hemisphere flexible silicon mold, I spooned 1 tsp of the black jello into the sheres and set in the fridge for three minutes until tacky. Then I filled the remainder of the mold with the room white mixture. Let set for two hours and then remove.

To get the blood shot effect, I took a toothpick and some red food dye and outlined the eyes.


I'm pretty sure Natalie Portman had an eye double for the movie poster. Look closely at the opening photo and you'll see it was my jello!

Cotton Candy Dandies

Hello Gelophiles,

While at the local liquor store, Sav-Mor Liquors, I had a great conversation with one one of the ladies who works there. We started talking about new flavored vodkas and she pointed me to a Cotton Candy vodka. As she put it, "If I drank again, this is what I'd drink." With an endorsement like that, I had to try.

To compliment the vodka, I bought some real cotton candy and some Jelly Belly Cotton Candy jelly beans. These were one of the first flavors of Jelly Bellys that I'd ever tasted. I can remember going to Marshall Fields with my Mom in the 70's and if I was good, going upstairs to the candy department to pick out one bag of beans. In those days they only had six or seven flavors. I always struggled between the Green Apple and Cotton Candy. Making decisions was never my forte, even back then.

Back to the present. I decided to do an experiement. Which would taste better, fortifying the vodka with cotton candy or jelly beans? Being a scientist I carefully considered how to create a cotton candy infused vodka and one with simple syrup made with the jelly beans. Then I....

Who am I kidding? I ended putting both in. Double the pleasuer, double the fun. So much for experiment.


Here's the recipe.

Cotton Candy Dandies

2 cups water
1/2 cup pink lemonade powder
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
12 Cotton Candy Jelly Belly beans

2 cups Cotton Candy Vodka
1/2 lb. cotton candy

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a microwave proof bowl. Then add the lemonade mix and jelly bellies and microwave for 4 minutes on high. Remove, stir, and let cool. Remove any jelly bean solids still in the mixture.

To make the cotton candy infused vodka, just add the cotton candy which dissolves instantly.

Add the infused vodka and pour into molds or a 6x6 glass baking dish and let sit for 2 hours.

These things tasted like candy. Ok, no big revelation. But by far one of my favorite shots made yet.

Go ahead and ask for these at your local Candy Counter. They might have them if you're really good...

but more likely if you're really bad... ;)

Happy Valentimes!

Hello Gelophiles,

Okay, for those who think there's a typo in the title, you're wrong. True, my hyperactivity and short attention span tends to result in poor grammar, dangling participles, and trailing off thoughts.......


Where was I? Oh yeah, ValentiMes. Something Homer said in a Simpson's episode what, two decades ago? Yikes. I sometimes forget that The Simpsons are still on TV. How do they manage to come up with new story lines?

Well, I may know an inkling of what that is like. Trying to come up with new gelatin shot ideas is also a challenge.

Today's shot was a variation of a pudding shot I made a couple of summer's ago.

Fudgie O the Shot

1 3 oz box of instant chocolate pudding
1 3 oz box of raspberry gelatin
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 cup soy milk (just cuz)
1/2 cup vanilla vodka
1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
1/4 cup Creme de Cacao

Sprinkle the unflavored gelatin onto the soy milk in a microwave proof bowl. Whisk in the pudding and raspberry gelatin. Microwave for three minutes until hot. Stir. Let sit until cool and add the alcohol.

Lightly oil a silicon mold or container with oil. Grape seed oil is best for it's viscosity and lack of flavor. Pour the mixture into the molds and refrigerate for two hours.

Top with chocolate shots or alcohol infused whipped cream from Cream out of Temperance, MI.



Happy Valentimes!