Recipes: Orange Dreamsicle Jello Parfait

[joreth]

There is this little Florida roadside diner place that I used to pass every day on my way to work in Orlando, that advertises "grapefruit pie". The picture on the sign had been so washed out by the sun that I really couldn't tell what grapefruit pie was, but I was intrigued. After several years, I finally stopped in to try this pie.

The diner boasts that it won a pie contest several years in a row, and it was so popular that they even offered the recipe for free on their website. Before I knew that, I bought a slice of pie. I was ... disappointed. It really looked like someone really just made jello with fruit bits in a pie crust, and it vaguely tasted like key lime pie. So I went to the website to look at the recipe, and ... yeah, that's basically what it was. In fact, it wasn't even *grapefruit* Jello, it was STRAWBERRY JELLO! With bits of grapefruit in it!

I could totally do better than that!

So I started thinking ... HOW could I do better than that? After thinking about it for a while, I came up with a Jello parfait recipe that I wanted to experiment with - no idea if it would make a good *pie* or not, but it sounded like a good Jello dessert?

I made the first experiment today, and it worked out wonderfully! I have more experimentation to do, though, because this Jello was not terribly firm thanks to the citrus, and it completely liquefied again after sitting out for about an hour. It gelled back up after another night in the fridge, but next time I will try boiling the OJ first, which kills the enzymes that may be responsible for interfering with the gelatin process.

Anyway, it's ridiculously easy to make, so here it is:

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Orange Jello
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 1 cup of orange juice
• 1 can of mandarin oranges (drained)

 

• 1 package of vanilla pudding
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1 8oz tub of whipped cream

Directions:
 

1. Add 1 cup of boiling water to the powdered Jello in a bowl with a roughly 3 cup volume. Stir until thorough dissolved, about 2 minutes.


2. Add 1 cup of cold orange juice to the Jello. 


3. Add drained mandarin oranges.* 


4. Put Jello in the fridge to solidify for several hours, even overnight. 


5. Pour heavy whipping cream into medium mixing bowl. 


6. On medium speed with a hand mixer or stand mixer with a whisk, beat whipping cream until frothy. 


7. Add dry pudding powder and whisk until well mixed and solid. 


8. Add whipped cream and whisk until thoroughly mixed and store in an air-tight container until ready to serve. 


9. After gelled, spoon Jello into a cup or bowl in a small layer, then spoon whipped topping over the Jello in a layer, alternating Jello and whipped topping until cup or bowl is pleasingly full. Top with a dollop of whipped topping.

*Mandarin oranges will float to the top, leaving the bottom of the Jello fruit-free. For a regular bowl of Jello, this is undesirable, but since the Jello will be spooned or scooped into dishes, this can be compensated for. Make sure to add scoops of Jello without oranges to each layer in addition to the scoops from the top that include oranges, so that the oranges are spread evenly among the layers and among the servings and the un-fruited Jello is similarly spread evenly.