Once again I turned to my old copy of The Magic of JELL-O: 100 New and Favorite Recipes Celebrating 100 Years of Fun with JELL-O for a fun summer dessert that required very little money, time and effort.
I found a recipe for a Light’n Fruity Strawberry Pie and honed in on the filling which required strawberry Jello, boiling water, ice, Cool Whip, fruit and a graham cracker crumb crust. I took what I liked from the recipe, tossed the rest and came up with a raspberry mousse.
The Recipe
I got out a package of no name raspberry gelatin and dissolved for a few seconds it in a large bowl with 2/3 cup boiling water.
I added 2 cups of ice cubes and stirred constantly for around 5 minutes until the gelatin started to thicken.
Then I removed the ice.
I whisked in an almost-full container of Cool Whip that had been sitting in my freezer forever! I bet you could add vanilla ice cream or yogurt if you prefer. Whipping cream if you can handle the saturated fat.
I whisked until smooth. If you want to have fruit in yours you could add it now.
I have these adorable heart molds I wanted to use so I really sprayed them with cooking oil before adding in the filling.
Which JUST fit. Phew! I put in it the fridge and let chill for hours. I submerged the bottom in some warm water for just a sec before inverting the mold onto a plate.
Foodie Results
It came out almost perfectly! Pretty darn perfect for me, I have had some wild disasters with Jello in the past.
I picked some raspberries from my garden to garnish the mousse.
It totally made it! It added REAL raspberry flavour, LOL, which was nice. We actually really enjoyed this retro dessert. Yes, it is mostly “fake” but it required so little effort and I already had the ingredients. For a summer treat when it is hot, you are tired and want something with wow factor that took so little effort? This is your dish!
Gelatin desserts get such a bad rap and even I am scared of making a savoury version. Which of course means I am going to tackle it one day. Have any suggestions? Dares? Bring it!
My Mom was QUEEN of jello salads! She used to make one with jello, whipped cream and grated carrots that was to DIE for! Made veggies palatable to kids, LOL!
Your raspberry jello mousse looks amazing in that beautiful molded shape! Well done!
Your jello is so pretty!! But, I have to admit that I HATE jello. I think it’s the texture – it’s just wrong to me. And especially if there’s “stuff” in it (such as veggies or fruits). Yuck. So – no jello molding for me – I’ll admire yours from afar 🙂
Debra, your mom was a genius! And who knew whipped cream with grated carrots could be so good? Love it!
Thanks Tammy and I totally get the texture issue. I didn’t add “stuff” to mine so it was more like a mousse without all the fat or the raw eggs whites. Made some room in my pantry and freezer without spending any money.
So pretty in pink, the mold is just stunning! Congrats on the amazing looking raspberries from your garden as well, such a nice treat from mother nature.
Thank you Ava! 🙂 Yes, so nice to use my raspberries. It was a small crop but bigger than last year. Nice to have a touch of real foodie flavour in there!
Retro is coming back!