Ribbon Jello

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Every year at Christmas my mom makes a layered jello dessert. It’s all the colors and they are both light and creamy, so two layers of each color. It takes her hours. Each layer has to set for 45 minutes before she can put the next layer on. As I was flipping through one of my thrifted cookbooks I came across a jello recipe that I thought looked almost as difficult as her’s. I sent it to my mom and sister jokingly because it looked so hard. Then, I decided to try it. The recipe is called ribbon jello and it was such a great learning experience for me. 

Jello Colors and Flavors

Ribbon jello calls for four different colors (flavors) of jello. If you are making this any other time of the year I would definitely just follow what it is calling for. However, I was making it for Christmas. I didn’t want a rainbow jello for Christmas, I only wanted red and green. So that is what I used! The best thing about this is that you get to choose!

Don’t be afraid to branch out. If you have one favorite flavor then you can do all of your layers in that flavor. Or if you have a few flavors that you think will go well together, go for it! Obviously, red and green did very well for me. These were strawberry and lime flavors, by the way, and they made a fabulous flavor combination.

The other change that we’ve made with this is to use a better for you jello. Jello is notoriously bad for you, full of sugar and dyes. Simply Delish makes four flavors that are definitely better for you than the normal jello. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find lime yet so we are still 50/50 on the dyes/sugars being in this one. I have high hopes it’s still in development!

Ingredients

• 4 pkg. Jello (green, orange, yellow, and red)
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 pkg. Unflavored gelatin
• ½ cup cold water
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla

Ribbon Jello Directions

• While heating the milk with the 1 cup of sugar, dissolve the 2 packages of unflavored gelatin in ½ cup of cold water.
• When the sugar is dissolved, remove the milk mixture from heat.
• Add the dissolved unflavored gelatin to the hot milk mixture. 
• Add the milk mixture gradually to the 2 cups of sour cream.
• Beat well, add vanilla, beat well again.
• Set aside.
• Dissolve the first flavor of jello (green) with 1 cup of boiling water and add the ½ cup cold water. (You can add ice cubes to the cold water to help it set more quickly). 
• Pour this first layer of jello into a sightly greased 9×13 pan.
• Put this layer in the refrigerator and allow it to set up. It should take 30-45 minutes.
• Once that layer has set, add 1 ½ cups of white jello to the top. 
• Put in the refrigerator to set, another 30-45 minutes.
• While this layer is setting, dissolve your next flavor of jello (orange) with 1 cup of hot water. 
• When the white layer has set, mix the ½ cup of cold water to the flavor that you previously dissolved. 
• Pour the flavor on top of the previously set white layer. Place this in the refrigerator for another 30-45 minutes to set. 
• Once set, add 1 ½ cups of white jello on top. Place in the refrigerator to set 30-45 minutes.
• While this layer is setting, dissolve your next flavor of jello (yellow) with 1 cup of hot water. 
• When the white layer has set, mix the ½ cup of cold water to the flavor that you previously dissolved. 
• Pour the flavor on top of the previously set white layer. Place this in the refrigerator for another 30-45 minutes to set. 
• Once set, add 1 ½ cups of white jello on top. Place in the refrigerator to set 30-45 minutes.
• While this layer is setting, dissolve your next flavor of jello (red) with 1 cup of hot water. 
• When the white layer has set, mix the ½ cup of cold water to the flavor that you previously dissolved. 
• Pour the flavor on top of the previously set white layer. Place this in the refrigerator for another 30-45 minutes to set. 

One you get the first couple of steps down the process does get a lot easier to manage. It looks really complicated but the biggest thing about it is patience. You will need to be very patient while you wait for the jello to set. If you go too quickly your layers will blur together and it will not have the ribbon effect. 

More Notes

I wasn’t able to add my final layer. As I mentioned, I used a smaller pan so all of my jello didn’t fit. The flavor on it was still incredible but one more layer just would have added more of the goodness. Also, the white layer tends to get a little chunky by the end of it. I would suggest ending in a color because it hides the white and looks prettier. 

I used beef gelatin instead of unflavored gelatin packets. One packet is approximately 2 tsp of gelatin. For this recipe use 4 tsp of beef gelatin. It made me feel better that in all of the artificial colors and sugars I used one more healthy ingredient. As I mentioned, we switched to Simply Delish jello but before that, this was a pretty toxic recipe.

In Summary: Ribbon Jello

Whew. There you have it, ribbon jello! It looks incredibly festive with red and green layers. My family loved it so much they couldn’t stop eating it. We barely had any leftovers! This has officially become a staple at our family Christmas and I am now the jello lady. Does someone make jello for your holiday dinner? 

Ribbon Jello

A sweet treat that is perfect for your next part.

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

• 4 pkg jello these are the small boxes
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 pkg unflavored gelatin or use 4 tsp beef gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

 

• While heating the milk with the 1 cup of sugar, dissolve the 2 packages of unflavored gelatin in ½ cup of cold water.
• When the sugar is dissolved, remove the milk mixture from heat.
• Add the dissolved unflavored gelatin to the hot milk mixture.
• Add the milk mixture gradually to the 2 cups of sour cream.
• Beat well, add vanilla, beat well again.
• Set aside.
• Dissolve the first flavor of jello (green) with 1 cup of boiling water and add the ½ cup cold water. (You can add ice cubes to the cold water to help it set more quickly).
• Pour this first layer of jello into a sightly greased 9×13 pan.
• Put this layer in the refrigerator and allow it to set up. It should take 30-45 minutes.
• Once that layer has set, add 1 ½ cups of white jello to the top.
• Put in the refrigerator to set, another 30-45 minutes.
• While this layer is setting, dissolve your next flavor of jello (orange) with 1 cup of hot water.
• When the white layer has set, mix the ½ cup of cold water to the flavor that you previously dissolved.
• Pour the flavor on top of the previously set white layer. Place this in the refrigerator for another 30-45 minutes to set.
• Once set, add 1 ½ cups of white jello on top. Place in the refrigerator to set 30-45 minutes.
• While this layer is setting, dissolve your next flavor of jello (yellow) with 1 cup of hot water.
• When the white layer has set, mix the ½ cup of cold water to the flavor that you previously dissolved.
• Pour the flavor on top of the previously set white layer. Place this in the refrigerator for another 30-45 minutes to set.
• Once set, add 1 ½ cups of white jello on top. Place in the refrigerator to set 30-45 minutes.
• While this layer is setting, dissolve your next flavor of jello (red) with 1 cup of hot water.
• When the white layer has set, mix the ½ cup of cold water to the flavor that you previously dissolved.
• Pour the flavor on top of the previously set white layer. Place this in the refrigerator for another 30-45 minutes to set.
• Store in your refrigerator until ready to eat.

Notes

One you get the first couple of steps down the process does get a lot easier to manage. It looks really complicated but the biggest thing about it is patience. You will need to be very patient while you wait for the jello to set. If you go too quickly your layers will blur together and it will not have the ribbon effect.

 

You should end on a COLOR not white like pictured. I didn’t have enough room in my small pan to add another color. 

Keyword christmas, holiday, jello