It's not too early to start planning for Thanksgiving. The Soup Lady believes that anticipation heightens the pleasure of the experience so I will now share with you my plans for a guaranteed traffic stopper at anybody's family gathering: Broken Glass Cake.
Yes, it's Jello. Why is this fascinating food the object of such derision? The Soup Lady does not brook any sort of nonsense when it comes to gelatin deserts so don't even start. Look at it. Who could resist this this? They all come around to admire it like moths to a flame. And, as you know by now, the visual spectacle is worth almost as much as the taste of it, especially in mob scenes such as Thanskgiving. Who among us would not relish the idea of being the agent behind an edible spectacle? It's what the youngsters used to call a rush, and it's a feeling not soon forgotten, my friends.
This one is Straight out of that indipsensable tome, the Joys of Jell-O Recipe Book, by General Foods Corp:
1 package (3 oz.) each Jell-O Orange, Cherry, and Lime Gelatins
4 cups boiling water
1½ cups cold water
1 package (3 oz.) Jell-O Lemon Gelatin
¼ cup sugar
½ cup pineapple juice
1½ cups graham cracker crumbs*
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine*
2 envelopes Dream Whip Whipped Topping Mix or 2 cups whipping cream
*Or use 16 to 18 ladyfingers, split, to line pan instead of crumb-butter mixture.
Prepare the three flavors of gelatin separately, using 1 cup boiling water and ½ cup cold water for each. Pour each flavour into an 8-inch square pan. Chill until firm, or overnight.
Then combine the lemon gelatin, sugar, and remaining 1 cup boiling water; stir until gelatin and sugar are dissolved. Stir in pineapple juice. Chill until slightly thickened. Meanwhile, mix the crumbs and melted buter; press into bottom of 9-inch spring-form pan.
Cut the firm gelatins into ½-inch cubes. Then prepare whipped topping mix as directed on package or whip the cream; blend with lemon gelatin. Fold in gelatin cubes. Pour into pan. Chill at least 5 hours, or overnight. Run knife or spatula between sides of dessert and pan, and remove sides of pan before servig.
Makes 16 servings.
Now you know that the Soup Lady prefers the version made with the lady fingers, don't you? I think you could have made easy money betting on that one. Although this year, I am greatly tempted to mold the whole thing and surround it by grapes on a footed hammered aluminum server. Now tell me you wouldn't stop to gaze upon that.
That's what I thought.
Crown Jewel Mold: Prepare Crown Jewel Dessert, omitting crumb mixture and pouring mixture into a 3-quart mold or 9-inch spring-form pan.
Crown Jewel Pie: Prepare Crown Jewel Dessert, pouring mixture into 2 ladyfinger- or crumb-lined 9-inch pie pans. (To line pie pans with ladyfingers, use about 18 ladyfingers, split. Line the bottoms of the pans; then cut remaining ladyfingers in half crosswise and line the sides of the pans.)
Crown Jewel Cheese Dessert: Prepare Crown Jewel Dessert, substituting 2 packages (3 oz. each) cream cheese, beaten with ¼ cup milk until fluffy, for the whipped topping.
Note: Other Jell-O Gelatin fruit flavours may be used instead of those suggested in recipe, forming any combination of colors desired. For instance, make all the cubes of Jell-O Black Raspberry or Lime Gelatin and substitute Jell-O Strawberry Gelatin for the Lemon gelatin.
from The Joys Of Jell-O Recipe Book
I think I found your "star" soup bowls....good luck !
Posted by: pastel | October 30, 2003 at 11:38 AM
The world doesn't have enough "festive" food. But, this certainly helps!
Posted by: Philip | October 30, 2003 at 08:35 PM
when i saw the picture, got hungry. those are my favourites!! but not with cake though. just make from pure jelly.
over in malaysia we have the hard kind of jelly. is that gelatin? it's either made from powder or this long transparent seaweed thing. yum. :)
Posted by: Wena | November 02, 2003 at 02:50 AM
I like this -- it fulfills my need to feed ground glass to my husband, without risking actual incarceration.
Posted by: Sue | November 04, 2003 at 11:58 AM
oooh! jell-o! the magical powder! i am inspired to get my joys of jell-o cook book out and take a recipe of two for a spin!
Posted by: monkey | November 05, 2003 at 01:23 AM
Thank you for this recipe, I remember my Great Grandmother making this when I was a child. She always cooked from memory & I would watch her in the kitchen, but I was so young, I don't remember what the amounts were. She never used measuring cups either, it was a handfull of this, a pinch of that, a scoop of the other. What memories... Thank you!!
Posted by: Susan | November 23, 2003 at 09:17 AM
hey this broken glass stuff i could use some more of that stuff it was awesome
Posted by: Tigger | February 04, 2004 at 10:51 AM
I remember my mother making this when i was a child and I was trying to remember the recipe and my oldest sister said go on line and maybe you can fine it. So thank you for having this recipe so I can make it for my children and grand children . My mother pasted away when I was 12 years old so I didn't get to keep any of her recipe
Posted by: SANDY FINCHUM | December 15, 2007 at 03:47 PM