Refreshing & Sparkling Orange Gelatin with Fruit
01 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Desserts Tags: Desserts, Fruit, Sides
What a delightfully refreshing dessert. It’s loaded with sweet fruit and flavored with tangy orange juice and fizzy ginger ale. Perfect for a warm summer day. Serve as dessert. Or serve as a dinner side dish. Even serve with a dollop of sweet whipped cream.
It’s like jello but not quite as firm. Much healthier, though, I imagine, and for that reason alone I embrace this recipe. However, it’s so darn yummy I think I could eat the entire batch, and that would negate any of the reduced calorie benefits!!
I used fresh squeezed orange juice rather than prepackaged OJ, but that would certainly be a shortcut to use bottled juice. I look forward to trying this out with other fruit juice flavors, like lime or grapefruit or even grapes…maybe even watermelon… I could use my juicer or my blender to make fresh juices. And mega options of what kinds of fruits to use.
Although I made this in a rectangular dish this time, I think if I want to serve this for guests, making individual cups would look a lot nicer. The gelatin doesn’t hold it’s shape like the packaged jello and got kind of floppy when I tried to cut cute little cubes to put into a dish. Hence, the individual serving cups will eliminate the flop factor while increasing the aesthetic appeal.
Refreshing & Sparkling Orange Gelatin with Fruit
INGREDIENTS
- 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (1/8 cup)
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 1/2 cups + 1/2 cup orange juice (I fresh squeezed about 6 medium oranges)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 cups ginger ale
- 15 ounces drained mandarin oranges
- 8-10 fresh strawberries, sliced
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
DIRECTIONS
- Place the cold water in a small saucepan; sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let it soften for five minutes, then heat it gently on low heat, stirring slowly, until the gelatin dissolves.
- Add 1/2 cup orange juice and the sugar. Warm gently until the sugar dissolves, stirring. Do not overheat.
- In a large bowl, mix the remaining 1 1/2 cups orange juice with the ginger ale; whisk in the gelatin mixture.
- Pour the mixture into a 9×13-inch baking pan. Gently stir in the fruit (I actually placed my fruit in the pan first then gently poured the liquid over it). Refrigerate the mixture until set, about 4-6 hours. Cut into squares and serve as a side dish or simple dessert.
SOURCE: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe who adapted from Whole Foods Market Cookbook
