Jelly champagne flutes

A busy week this week; the children started back at school after a long summer holiday, school meetings to attend and school lunches to make. My little bloke is no longer a kindergartner, but is now in in the big school. And the young lady is in Grade 2. Time flies!

Here is a dessert I made for a visitor. The challenge with this dessert is that it had to be lactose-free, for our visitor. When I think of dessert, what immediately springs to mind is chocolate, cream and any combination of those two things. Those ingredients are not so friendly for a lactose-free person.

I thought these jelly cups would make a nice, light and tasty dessert, and would fit the lactose-free category nicely. The children were able to help make these also, which is always a bonus. I made the jelly in champagne flutes, just for something different and so we could all see the lovely colours of the jelly.

I only had two flavours in the pantry, so I made my own jelly using powdered gelatine and fresh orange juice as the top layer. I did not sweeten this mixture, as I thought there would be enough sugar in the layers below to compensate. I also sprinkled the top with some dessicated coconut mixed with a tiny bit of green food colouring. This was just for decoration. You could spoon on some fresh cream or icecream if you like or just leave it as is to serve.

Jelly is very difficult to find in Austria. There is only one shop I have found that sells it in Vienna. Or you can import it from England. The locals who have tasted it here really like it. Another one of those strange cultural/food differences between Australia and here.

The lactose-free visitor gave them the thumbs up by-the-way.

What you'll need

*This made five champagne flutes of jelly as a dessert.

2 packets jelly crystals in different colours/flavours. I used cranberry and strawberry.
1.5 cups boiling water
2 cups cold water
1 cup orange juice
10g powdered gelatine

What to do

Make the first batch of jelly following the packet instruction. I used a little less water than the packet directed, so the jelly would be thicker so I could layer it in the glass. I used 3/4 cup of boiling water and the same of cold water. I made the jelly in a jug, so it was easy to pour into the glasses.

Once the jelly is dissolved, pour carefully into 5 champagne flutes. I filled each glass about 1/4 full.

Place in the fridge to set. This will take about 2 hours.

Once the jelly is set hard, make the next colour jelly. Follow the instructions as above. Once the jelly is dissolved, pour carefully onto the existing layer of jelly. I poured my mixture into the glass over the back of a teaspoon, just to make sure the hot jelly mixture didn't dissolve the already-set layer.

Place in the fridge to set. Again this will take about 2 hours.

Once this layer is set hard, make the final layer. You can use another layer of jelly made with jelly crystals, or make your own as I did.

To make your own, heat the orange juice in a saucepan until just simmering. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle in the powdered gelatine and mix well with a spoon until the gelatine is dissolved. Pour into a quarter-cup of cold water and mix well. Pout the final jelly layer carefully into the glasses.

Place glasses back into the fridge to set for two hours. Then serve with whatever accompaniment you'd like. I sprinkled a little dessicated coconut on the top.