Stained Glass Jello – Red, White & Blue for the 4th of July
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Are you still looking for that perfect something to bring to the 4th of July cookout on Saturday? Well, look no further. This Jello is fun, festive, easy to transport and eat, a sure-fire kid pleaser, and will make the adults wax nostalgic about the good ol’ days of Jello Jigglers. This impressive-looking Jello dessert couldn’t be easier to make and is a simple variation of the classic “rainbow Jello” layered dessert. You know, the one with all the colors of the rainbow with layers of white in between? I knew you’d remember 
I was so entranced when I first saw the picture of stained glass Jello on The Food Librarian. She had done hers up in purple and yellow to cheer on the Lakers, and it looked awesome. Of course the Pittsburgh Penguins were still battling for the Cup at the time so my first instinct was to make this and do it Pens-style. The only problem, naturally, is that Pittsburgh colors are black and gold. I’ve never seen black Jello, have you? I thought perhaps they would sell blackberry, but I couldn’t find any. So, I went back to making more batches of the decorated sugar cookies and put the stained glass Jello on the back burner.
Well, it didn’t stay there for long. I had an “aha” moment and realized that with strawberry and berry blue flavors I could make a pretty cool red, white & blue dessert for the 4th of July. And to be even more festive, I used a cookie cutter to cut the Jello into the shape of stars. This was fun to make and I think it’s a great presentation for a holiday picnic. While not in the upper echelon of gourmet desserts, I think this is a great one to keep in your back pocket. You could switch up colors to reflect school graduation, various sports teams, company logos – anything at all! And if you have some fun cookie cutters in your stash, the possibilities are truly endless.
More great picnic food:
Cheddar Ale Spread
Pepperoni Bread
Strawberry Pretzel Squares (you could also make a blueberry version!)
Loaded Baked Potato Salad
Italian Antipasto Salad
Sweet Dinner Rolls (perfect for soaking up baked beans)
Panzanella Salad (bright, crisp and light – perfect for summer)
1 Year Ago: Fresh Blueberry Pie (also great for a 4th of July picnic!)
Stained Glass Jello (also known as Broken Glass Jello)
Yield: One 9x13-inch pan
Prep Time: 20 minutes (active) 6 hours (inactive)
Total Time: 6 hours 20 minutes
Ingredients:
4 boxes (3-ounces each) Jello (or store brand gelatin dessert) in different colors
14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (Knox)
WaterDirections:
1. For each flavor, dissolve one box of Jello in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour into a square container that is about 6 to 8" square and chill at least 3 hours, or overnight. (Try to use the same size for all four so that the blocks will come out the same. In this case the smaller the better - I used 8" pans and felt my "blocks" were a little too flat.)
2. After chilling the flavors, cut them into small blocks.
3. Carefully mix the blocks in a 9x13-inch pan.
4. In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin into ½ cup cold water. After the gelatin blooms, add 1½ cups boiling water and dissolve. Add the can of condensed milk. Stir and let cool. Pour cooled milk mixture over Jello blocks in 9x13 pan. Skim off any small bubbles that are created when you pour the condensed milk on the Jello pieces. Chill overnight or at least 3 hours until firm.
5. Cut into blocks or shapes and serve.
(Recipe adapted from The Food Librarian)
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This turned out great!!! Love the stars. How festive is that?! Have a great 4th of July!
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Oooh how pretty! The possibilities are endless…
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These are so CUTE!!
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I am unbelievably impressed, these are the neatest things i have seen in a LONG time!
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OMG, how cute and so festive!
Pam
http://www.alovefornewrecipes.blogspot.com
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These are so pretty and it looks like so much fun!!!
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Awesome idea!! Really cute and I bet delicious too!
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These are fabulous! We will make these with the children!!! fun. happy 4th! best, s
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How beautiful!! I just made the ubiquitous flag cake.
These are much more clever!!
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Sunshine Mom – I think my mom made the flag cake for almost every 4th of July picnic we had growing up! Great memories!
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Michelle,
I have to say these look so nice. I am not a Jello eater. But I can say that they would make great decor around a table also. Love them!!
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Love these! I have been wanting to try stained glass Jello as well. It’s so pretty!
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OMGOSH I LOVE IT! Haha. What a great idea, Chelle! These are too cute and I want 5 now.
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So fun and festive! Great job. I’ve made the multi-layered Jello, but not the stained glass, which is on my to-do list!
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WOW those are just…WOW!!!! Beautiful pictures and amazing creation! So fun!
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wow, looks cool, and it’s so simple too! There is a black jelly in the Chinese market that is mixed with sweeteners before eating (otherwise there’s no taste). Grass Jelly… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_jelly
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This looks soo good! And the cut-outs just make them look so much better!!!
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Absolutely Fantastic, I really love your idea, it is very creative
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Very fun! Tweeted this post on Twitter. Hope everyone makes these for 4th of July festivities today.
…Susan
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Wicked cute jello! I LOVE them!
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these are so lovely! such a wonderful idea for all occasions. can’t wait to make one.
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Im going to have to find an excuse to make these!
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this looks so great. will have to try it!
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I just finished making this. I used kiwi and peach flavored jello. I can’t wait to see how it turns out……I will let you know…I will take pics and post it..link it back to you.
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Hello! That’s an absolutely wonderful cake you’ve made there. I hope it’s alright that I borrow a picture (linked and credited, of course) for a post about 4th of July desserts on my blog. If you’d rather I remove it, please let me know.
Here’s the entry if you want to take a look: http://eatingforamateurs.blogspot.com/2009/07/americans-make-desserts.html
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How festive and colorful. Great job Chelle.
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I don’t eat jello but these are super cute!
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I have one holiday left this summer to try this out. The pics are beautiful and I am sure will be a big hit for Labor Day BBQ. Thanks for sharing.
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So gorgeous.
May I suggest starting with a dark Jell-O like Black Cherry or Grape and a couple drops black food coloring?
That’s what I do for Hallowe’en.
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These are so cute! I was wondering which jello colors you used since the recipe calls for four – red, white, blue & ___ ? Thanks! I love your blog!!!!
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Michelle on June 15th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Hi Melissa, Thanks! You actually need four boxes, not necessarily four colors. So for these, I used two boxes of strawberry (red) and two boxes of blue raspberry (blue). The white comes from the sweetened condensed milk.
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This is the cutest idea ever for 4th of July! Love it!
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How fun! Perfect for the holiday!
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I love your jell-o stars. It is a blast back to the past with a modern twist!
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Ha! These are so cute! Perfect for the 4th of July, but a good idea for any festive occasion!
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How fun! Perfect for the 4th of July.
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This is such a festive and fun recipe! They would be a huge hit at a Fourth of July party!
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Very cute idea. Perfect for Fourth of July celebrations!
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For black coloring, I wonder if activated charcoal would work…? It’s what they use to color black licorice. It’s tasteless and will turn water JET BLACK. It’s also good for you because it adsorbs toxins in your body. Completely safe. Try it! I buy mine from http://www.thepowermall.com and use it for tummy aches, nausea, etc. and it works.
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When you cut the jello into cubes and put it into the bigger pan do you stack them on top of each other? Touching each other? I guess I’m spoiled with The Pioneer Woman and all her photos!
Thanks for the help!
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Just dump them on top of each other. The cream you pour ontop will seep in between the jello and float them up a bit.
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I tried making these for our 4th of July party yesterday and they did not turn out well. Everything went great until I poured the condensed milk on. The end result was not very visually appealing, and the flavor did not blend well with the Jello. Your pictures look very festive, but I think I will try another recipe for our company luncheon next week.
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Love this!! Being from Pittsburgh myself I was thinking…could you have used a black gel color to color a purple/grape jello? I may try that myself when football season starts.
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We tried these this week. We had fun with green and blue jello and plane, train and rocket shapes. I linked this post to my blog. Thanks for the inspiration!
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Can you make these with clear “pour over” instead of turning it white with the milk?
I’m trying to find a jello recipe like this that is dairy free. Could I use water instead of the milk?
Thanks!
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Michelle on August 4th, 2010 at 11:05 am
Hi Sharon,
The only way I have ever made the “white” layer of a Jello dessert is with sweetened condensed milk, so I couldn’t say for sure what your results would be like using water. It’s sure worth a try though if you need to create a dairy-free dish! Let me know how it turns out!
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This is too cute. Reminds me of melt and pour soapmaking!
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If you think about what color black is, it’s all of em. Try mixing together two to three colors from different parts of the color wheel (I’d suggest blue to start with a dark value, and orange as its complement) and you should get a pretty dark color. It might not be totally black (perhaps brown- or blue-ish). However, eating this will probably be like eating dark frosting, so maybe use less of it in proportion to the other colors or you might get stained teeth.
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Mine are chilling in the fridge now. I’m making them as one of the many red white and blue themed foods for my boyfriends Going away to Iraq potluck/party. Im excited and they look great so far. There may not be any left for the party though! i made more of a double batch of it so i put 2 cherry, a watermelon, and a strawberry banana flavored for the reds… and its like a burst of summer flavor in your mouth and still came out a pretty red.
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Michelle on May 25th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Kandi – Thoughts with you and your boyfriend for a safe deployment. I hope you all enjoy the Jello! What a great idea for the party!
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I LOVE this idea! I featured you today in a roundup of yummy red, white, and blue recipes! Here is the link:
http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2011/05/happy-memorial-day-my-friends-many.html
Have a great day!
~Alison
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Oh wow, these are too fun. Did it take a few tries to get them to come out so well? Thanks for the inspiration!
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Michelle on June 23rd, 2011 at 10:41 am
Thanks Cheryl! No practice required! The best part of these is that you just combine everything in the pan and then use a cookie cutter if you want shapes, or just cut into squares. They are always a hit at summer parties!
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These are so pretty. I featured them on my blog today.
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Michelle on June 23rd, 2011 at 10:43 am
Thanks Laura!
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these are too awesome. definitely making for the fourth, and yet another person linking to them from my blog to share with my readers!
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I can’t wait to try this – I’m already thinking of so many ways to use this idea. Thanks for sharing!!
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I made these last year for our 4th of July celebration and my 5 year old son asked for them again this year! It’s such a fun dessert to make.
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These are great! I am making them right now and cannot wait to see how they turn out! Taking them to a 4th of July party today, I know everyone will love them! Thanks for some great ideas!
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Hey Michelle! I love your blog and I’m making these today. They are so cute. I just realized I made the jello according to the package, and not your instructions. Uh-oh. I guess we’ll see what happens!
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Hi! I made these for our 4th of July cookout and they were GREAT! I blogged about them today with a link back to you!
If you want to check it out, here’s the link: http://sittingatourkitchentable.blogspot.com/2011/07/fourth-of-july-goodies.html
Have a great weekend!
Amy
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i made this for the 4th of july and it was a total FAIL! i went to cut into it and it completely fell apart. i must have used too much water or something– i let it set overnight and everything. it just never firmed up the way i assume it should have. bummer. it still tasted good, so i scooped a few helpings out for the kids. but eventually had to throw the rest of it out.
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I made the stained glass jello last night and let is set overnight, but it seemed softer than it should have been. Do you think I can use three Knox envelopes for a firmer jello? Also, what do you use to keep the jello from sticking to the glass pan? Thanks!
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Michelle on November 14th, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Hi Jasmine, I’m not sure about using extra Knox, as that would just affect the white part of the Jello. I haven’t had a problem with it firming up, did you follow the recipe here or on the Jello box? Also, you could try spraying the pan with a non-stick cooking spray, although I’ve never had an issue with sticking.
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I noticed thee comment about not knowing how to do black jello. 2 packs purple 1 pack green. And to make brown 2 packs purple and 1 pack yellow. Hope that helps! Thanks for sharing how to do the stained glass effect.
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What does it mean “after the gelatin blooms?”
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Michelle on May 22nd, 2013 at 12:27 am
Hi Tami, The gelatin will noticeably soften and plump up a bit as it is dissolved.
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