The Claw

Written by Kayla Hoffman (Features Writer)

Ever feel super tired or uncomfortably full after dinner and dessert? And do you find that this tends to happen more in the summer with the overwhelming heat? Sometimes we forget about this particular dessert, however, it’s something super customizable and can be a rather refreshing treat for the summer. 

Jell-O. It can be a wide variety of colors, flavors, and shapes. This recipe is stacked Jell-O squares, meaning there are many different colors and layers of flavor separated by a sweetened condensed milk jelly. When it comes to this recipe, you can change almost everything about this, including the varying flavor and color. So here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients:

• 4 packets of flavored gelatine
  • These can all be your decision because the colors and flavors are each different. For mine, I did red, orange, green, and blue. You can switch all of these up, just make sure it’s the bigger packets of jello. 
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 can of 14 oz
• 5 packets of unflavored gelatine 
  • You can find unflavored gelatine at Safeway by all of the Jell-O packets. The brand I personally used was Knox Unflavored Gelatine.
• Water – boiled 

Materials

• Kettle
  • The reason why I prefer kettle is that it’s easiest and on stand-by. You can use a small bowl for boiling the water, it’s just harder. 
• 9 x 13-inch pan
• Measuring cup
  • For the boiling water
• 2-4 bowls
  • All on the bigger side. This is because you’ll be washing the bowls in between layers so as not to mix the colors awkwardly. You’ll also need a separate bowl for your condensed milk layer.

This recipe, though simple, takes lots of prep. Something that is very important with this recipe is the setting of the Jell-O so that it creates the layers. Be sure that before you start gathering all your materials to start making your Jell-O, you clear up space in your refrigerator to place your 9×13 pan evenly so then you do not have to while making the layers.

To start off your first layer of Jell-O, you’re going to make your first layer of Jell-O with your selected flavor out of the 4 packs. In a bowl, pour the flavored gelatine along with one of the packets of unflavored gelatine. Once these are in a bowl mixed together, add one cup of boiling water and stir until all the gelatine has dissolved and created a colorful fluid, then, pour into your pan and set carefully in the fridge. 

Now that you have your first layer of the flavored gelatine, it’s time to prepare the white layer using the sweetened condensed milk. Be sure to get your kettle boiling again for the next gelatine packet. Open the can of condensed milk and place it into a bowl. Empty the unflavored gelatin into a separate bowl. Once your water is boiling again, pour a cup into the unflavored gelatine mixture and stir until it’s a thick jelly consistency, or something like hair gel. Then, proceed to mix this with your condensed milk. You’ll be using this for the rest of your milk layers. 

The reason why this recipe is so easy is because of its repetition. Since your sweetened condensed milk layer is all prepared for the rest of the layers, you will continue to mix the flavored gelatine with boiled water and create your layers. Be sure that between each layers, each one is set completely to guarantee that your layers will come out perfectly separated. This should take about 30-40 minutes. In between setting your Jell-O layers you can wash any cups, bowls, or stirring materials, as the gelatine mix sticks to them insanely easy.

What you can do when all of your layers are firmly set, you may cut into the Jell-O making squares. This is the most common thing people do, but you can also use any cookie cutters to make any other shapes. Once cut out, set on a serving dish or plate and enjoy either by yourself or distanced with friends!