Broken Glass JELL-O®

We had another pot luck at the office, so this time, instead of the hot crab dip, I decided that I would surprise everyone and make my broken glass JELL-O®. The girls at the office really like this because it's naturally low in fat. I like it because it's a cool, refreshing snack item that can be eaten at any time.

This dessert is not hard to make, but it is very time consuming. Here's the recipe and I hope you enjoy it.

Broken Glass JELL-O®

4 3-ounce boxes of JELL-O® brand gelatin*
1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk**
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin

*You may use any flavor of JELL-O® that you want. Here I used one box each of grape, strawberry, lime and lemon.

**Instead of evaporated milk, you may substitute the following:

1 can of condensed milk, plus 1 can water, or
1 cup of heavy whipping cream.

In separate bowls, dissolve 1 box of JELL-O® in one cup of boiling water. Pour into an eight inch square dish or pan. Chill until set, approximately 3 hours.

Once set, cube JELL-O® and mix in a 13" x 9" baking pan and set aside (in the refrigerator).

In a separate bowl, combine four envelopes unflavored gelatin with one cup boiling water. Let dissolve completely, about 5 minutes. Strain and combine with one can of evaporated milk. Set aside to cool.

When milk mixture is cool, pour into 13" x 9" containing cubed JELL-O® and mix carefully until well combined. Chill until set, about 4 hours.

**NOTE**

If you are using sweetened condensed milk, combine with one can of warm water prior to adding to gelatin mixture.

If you are using heavy whipping cream, you may want to dilute it with one cup of warm water.

Once set, cut into desired shape and serve!

Comments

[Seattle Bon Vivant]

Wow! That is gorgeous indeed! And it contains one my favorite things in the whole wide world: condensed milk. :-) Kudos!

[FatMan Seoul]

Very colorful. Looks really sweet and pretty. I used to make jello with coconut milk, and when it sets a 2-tier jello forms. Blast from the past.

[tweety]

Yummy looking ..!! wish i got the time to cook leisurely too.

[stef]

the girls like it because it's pretty :) hehehe...it really does look good. thanks for sharing, reid!

[mariko]

Gorgeous! I tried to make something like that once, and it didn't congeal properly, so it looked really disgusting. I will definitely try your recipe!

[pieman]

Pot Luck nosh. Wouldn't mind working in your office.

[Reid]

Hello Seattle Bon Vivant,

Nice to see you here! Glad you could stop by. Thanks for the compliment. I like sweetened condensed milk too! =)

Hi FatMan,

I like the colors too. Sometimes we call this stained glass JELL-O® because the colors against a white background make it look like a stained glass window. I also make a two layer JELL-O®, not with coconut milk, but with strawberry JELL-O® and condensed milk.

Hi Tweety,

Nice to see you again! I wish I had more time...if I did, I would probably make this a lot more often. In truth, this doesn't take much time to make once you've put the pans of JELL-O® into the refrigerator to set. I would say, it may take an hour or so at most.

Hi Stef,

I think so too, they're just using the low-fat excuse! Thanks for the compliment, you should try to make this sometime. It's a winner for sure!

Hi Mariko,

Good to hear from you again! Thanks for your kind words. Do try this recipe. The trick is to make sure that the flavored JELL-O® has set properly and the milk mixture is cool prior to combining the two. Good luck!

Hi pieman,

Pot lucks are a common thing in my office. Everytime we have one, I get a request to make something. Do you think that the girls just want me to cook?

[ST]

This is so pretty. I think I will try the recipe one of these days using Konnyaku jelly.

[pieman]

Judging by your nosh - I wouldn't be surprised. What did they cook for you?

[Estelle]

Looks like these fancy soap bars that they sell in some trendy stores. Very sweet looking!

[Reid]

Hi ST,

Thanks for stopping by the blog. If you do try to make this with konnyaku jelly, please let me know how it turns out. I'm curious to know what it tastes like.

Hi Pieman,

They don't cook. They complain that they don't have time, so they buy food! Cheaters!

Hi Estelle,

Welcome to my blog! I've been told by others that this looks like homemade glycerin soaps. Actually, this is not as sweet as it looks. Since I used evaporated milk, it wasn't as sweet as if I had used condensed milk. Either way, most of the sweetness comes from the JELL-O® itself.

[Linda]

This looks fabulous! I remember when you mentioned this dish a few weeks ago and I've been looking forward to finding out what it was. Now that I know the recipe, I'm excited to try it out myself. Thanks for sharing---it looks really good!

[ST]

Hi Reid
I want to avoid using food colorings in the konnyaku jelly version. I am thinking of using pureed fruits. Will definitely let you know the outcome :)

[Reid]

Hi Linda,

Thanks for visiting and thanks for the compliment. It's actually one of the desserts that I make quite often at the request of my friends. =)

It is a bit labor intensive, but well worth it. Let me know how it works out for you!

Hi ST,

I think that pureed fruits, or fruit juice, should work just fine. I'm can't wait to find out how it turns out for you. Good luck!

[pinkcocoa]

hi Reid
It looks like rainbow to me. I won't mind eating a large bowl of rainbow myself. ;-)

[Reid]

Hi pinkcocoa,

Thanks for stopping by. The colors are quite nice aren't they? Believe me, I can eat almost the whole pan by myself! =)

[milgwimper]

Hi, I really like your blog i just found it by looking at the links on fatmans site.

I had a question about the strained part of this recipe. Do you strain the water or the powder? Thanks! The dessert looks quite awesome.

[Jo]

Greetings & Salutations! I got here cause I was looking for the Hakapulu (sp?) address for the Waiola Store for a write up I'm doing. Then I just had to check out this Broken Glass jello thing... and what to my wandering eyes should appear, but my bestest friend MilGwimper here! I gots ta check out the directions a little better now so maybe I can beat her into the kitchen. On a similar note, ever try rainbow jello? A Chinese lady once made it for a potluck. About 15 layers of different colored jello. Georgous! My question is how do you time the addition of layers because to soon and they bleed together, to late and they just pull apart. Any word?

Thanks!

[Jo]

Additional note to St...

I'm wondering if you are thinking of using fresh pineapple as one of your pureed fruits. I once heard that if you use fresh pineapple in a jello preparation it won't congeal properly. The same source also said that canned pineapple works ok. I have never had the opportunity to put this to the test. Anyone have any word on this? Don't suppose I could get a piece in the mail huh? ;o)

[milgwimper]

JO!!!! WHOA HUGZ I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! Here I was going to e-mail a link to this blog. Pretty funny! I think for the 15 layer jello you have to wait til each layer sets, then when the liquid is cool for the next layer pour slowly and let set again. I cant wait to try the stained glass jello...im hungry!

[Reid]

Hi milgwimper,

Thanks for visiting and thanks for the compliment! What you need to do is actually soften the gelatin in the water, then strain it before combining it with the milk. That way, you remove any solids that are left in the mixture.

Hi Jo,

Welcome to the blog! If you're going to make layered JELL-O®, it all depends on the amount of water used to dissolve the boxes of JELL-O®. Normally, the less water used, the better. Start with no more than a cup. It should set enough were you can add another layer within an hour. Make sure that the new liquid being added is cool. Otherwise, it won't matter if the previous layer has set properly or not.

I've never used pineapple when making any gelatin based desserts, so I don't know if what you're asking is true or not.

[elise]

Hi Reid,

Both of us being major jello lovers, my dad and I were inspired by the photo of this recipe to try out the Broken Glass Jello. We ran into a problem though! We used cream, not condensed milk. The cream ended up being too thick and forming a rubbery surface on top of the jello squares. Your recipe calls for adding a cup of water to the condensed milk, but not for the cream. I'm guessing that additional water is needed to be added to the cream as well (in addition to the one cup of boiling water).

Of course you can't go too wrong with jello, especially when you are a jello lover. But we were disappointed that our concoction didn't look nearly as pretty as yours. And the rubbery texture for the creamed jello is a little weird.

Cheers!

[Reid]

Hi Elise,

I'm sorry you had a problem! =( Normally when I use heavy cream, there is no need to add any additional water other than what you've used to dissolve the gelatin. It's strange that you had that happen. I don't find that heavy cream is as thick as sweetened condensed milk which is why I wouldn't normally use more water. I'll update my post to reflect what you have just written.

[Nancy]

Hi, Reid,
I'm in the process of making your "Broken Glass". I can't seem to print it out so I have to keep running back and forth between the kitchen and computer. Otherwise, I'm very grateful to have found your recipe - it's the closest to what I was looking for. I usually make the 7-layered jello but wanted to try this version.
Mahalo!

[Reid]

Hi Nancy,

Thank you for visiting my site.

My apologies about the printing of the recipe. In the future, the recipes will be available for printing. I just have to finish working on them and testing to make sure it works properly.

Hope you like the JELL-O and I would be interested in knowing how it tastes.