Truth be told, I made these in the spring and plan on a Holiday version too! Who ever knew Jell-O® Orange slices could entertain young and old? I made these for Easter and I couldn’t tell who enjoyed them most at our church: the kids or the seniors and made them again for fun this summer! They are very tasty when served right from the fridge! These are far, far much easier to make than they look! Ready to learn how so you can dazzle without peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, egg, sesame, soy and wheat?
I over purchased on Jell-O® so I also made Jell-O® cupcakes! I will share that recipe next week!
Step 1
Choose Jell-O® flavors based on bright colors that fit your mood or theme. If you are avoiding food dye, find a recipe for homemade gelatin such as pomegranate since the juice offers a deep red color (Alton Brown on Food Network offers one but you need to sign up as a member to view the recipe).
Step 2
Cut your oranges in half and remove fruit. My fruit remover was my husband and small hand juicer. We enjoyed fabulous homemade OJ needless to say.
Step 3
Remove pith. I removed the pith using a grapefruit scooper I purchased at William Sonoma (one of my best investments of the year I might add). Keep the peel intact.
Step 4
Arrange your orange halves in muffin tins. The muffin tins keep the oranges in place and ready to hold liquid. Try to arrange the oranges as even as possible so that the liquid won’t spill out.
I found the extra-large size muffin tins from Wilton worked the best…
Step 5
Follow package direction for Jigglers Recipe or use this Jiggler Recipe from Kraft–which is Jello created thicker. I found recipes on-line for the Jello Orange slice that simply followed the regular Jello package directions. I wanted to make sure I had an easy time cutting so I went for the Jigglers.
Step 6
Ladle the jello into the orange halves and place in refrigerator until FIRMLY set. I had bubbles in some of my liquid and I thought they would magically pop while in the refrigerator. I learned otherwise. They do not disappear. Therefore, ladle gently and/or pop your bubbles! I let my oranges set up over night. Some oranges may leak if you cut into the peel while removing the fruit and pith. Thankfully, they only leak right back into the muffin tin.
Step 7
Take a very thin, sharp knife and cut the orange into slices! Once firm, these are incredibly easy to cut.
Step 8
Enjoy the oohs and ahhs over another safe and fabulous dessert!
This dessert is SUPER easy and meets the needs of many food allergies. I mostly enjoy how bright, cheerful and unusual these look. The hardest part is juicing the orange, but I cheated and used my husband instead of an electric juicer. I know some folks scoop out the fruit and pith by hand, but I kept stabbing myself and cutting slits into the orange peel so I retreated to juicing which produced great tasting orange juice.
If you make this dessert can you email me a photo? Maybe we can start a gallery of our food allergy friendly culinary successes?-Caroline
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
So bright and cute! We don’t eat gelatin but I love the idea of using the oranges as a treat holder. I was just seeing on pinterest that someone had the idea to put bean dip in little cucumber cups (they used a melon baller to scoop a little trough in the thick cucumber slice. Might make for a fun theme for a birthday party!
Perfect for the Spring Fling, Blogger-Style! link-up, Caroline! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂