Posted on by Cathy

Easy Peasy Dessert

Do you remember the post (Afternoon Tea with a Difference) where I told you about the ‘virtual’ events that were held years ago – well here’s another little story along the same lines (this one is from Feb 2011 ) plus the photos that went with it.

The theme this time was to talk about the easiest dessert in your repertoire
That was a laugh because desserts didn’t come high on my list of cooking skills
Anyway after a bit of head scratching – no….ice cream cake from the supermarket wasn’t what the organisers were after…. I finally came up with something

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Hot humid sticky days in Summer often mean a lack of interest in heavy food
So on those days when you just can’t be bothered
and fresh fruit just doesn’t do it for you
I’ve gone back to one of the nicest easiest desserts (and at times snacks) there is

Good old fashioned Jelly – called Jello in some parts of the world.

Here in Australia it comes as flavoured crystals.
but in England I only remember it coming as flavoured gelatin cubes.  

So simple to make – dissolve in boiling water – add some cold
then pop in fridge to set
Takes no effort to eat – it just slides down the throat
Just the thing when you are feeling unwell
Lovely and cold when your body is hot
Fabulous with Ice Cream or Yoghurt
Along with Fruit and Custard and Cake (of some sort) you have the makings of a Trifle.

When the children were little I’d often add a tin of mandarin oranges which seemed to stretch it a bit further –  we  happened to have strawberries on hand the other day
So I chopped up a few and added them to the red jelly mix
(Our fridge lives in the laundry which means the washing machine is close by
A flat lid plus a clear chopping board makes a great handy bench at times)

Gone are the days of the large jelly mould I’d use when the children were little
you know the sort with the fluted edges.
that also needed two packets of crystals so it was firm enough to unmould.
 The tupperware one was my favourite, the one with a lid (so nothing ‘dropped into’ the jelly while it was in the fridge) as well as changeable bottoms that became the pattern on the top when it was unmoulded.  

These days when there are just us two I use these little ramekins as moulds
One liquid mix just fits nicely into the four and they don’t take up much fridge space

We tend to eat it directly from the little bowls
A nice little snack together with ice cream or yogurt, tea and a biscuit

If I wanted I could make it look more interesting
By placing chopped jelly in a bowl along with the yoghurt
Adding a cup of coffee and slightly ‘different ’ biscuits

And then of course for an after dinner treat
I could change direction again – make it a bit ‘posher’ – and present it like this

This kind of dessert was first recorded as jelly by Hannah Glasse in her 18th century book The Art of Cookery,  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelatin_dessert

Gosh didn’t that week go by quickly, it just seems like yesterday when I was sitting here in the early hours of the morning, cup of tea in hand chatting away to whoever was listening. Cooking hasn’t been top of the ‘want to do’ this past week. Simple (read comfort type) meals…..sausage & mash is a favourite of The Golfer’s and quick and easy to prepare. My favourite fruit (Imperial mandarins) is back so afters seemed to be quick and easy as well. Mandarins, water melon, bananas, cheese & crackers plus almonds/walnuts…..even hot custard one evening. No jelly though…. need to pick up a packet when I next do a shop!


Now I’m off to put the kettle on and decide on brekky – me thinks porridge, brown sugar and sultanas on top sounds good this morning.
There’s a date with a syringe and a hypodermic needle coming up in a couple of days so a bit of housework needs to be done in case I have a reaction, although all should be well seeing as this is the 2nd one and there was no problem with the first. I’d be interested to know if anyone had a reaction to their second AstraZeneca shot.

Oh, and do visit Denyse’s blog to see the latest edition of Life this week – there’s always people to meet over there.
Linking to Senior Salon  – hosted by Esme

AND…..big thanks to Gigi (gigi-hawaii) for her post that reminded me of this fun easy peasy dessert 😊

And – hopefully – The Golfer and our ISP have finally fixed whatever the problem has been with our internet. If it drops out again I’m going have a hissy fit down the telephone line into some poor unsuspecting workers ear. Also I’m hoping I’ve fixed my ‘commenting on blogger blogs problem’. Had to sign out not just of Google but my old blogger account as well – something I’ve haven’t done for years. Lots of head scratching and looking through ‘notes’ to find the correct p/word.

27 Replies to “Easy Peasy Dessert”

  2. Yes, my mother did too….thanks Elephant’s Child!
    Leo likes trifle…something easy to eat when he is not feeling up to much….so I keep jelly crystals in the cupboard to meet the demand.
    When we can see young friends again safely I will make watermelon jelly – nice on a hot day.
    I make bread and butter pudding with raisins and peach jam…nice cold as well as hot…

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  3. My ex-dh insisted it always had to be trifle – a bought trifle base, with canned fruit (nothing exotic like straight from a vine/berries), bought custard and of course packets of jelly. Add whipped cream…

    He said it wasn’t like his Mother made

    Well when his parents came out to NZ for a for few months and I was going to make the “trifle” – HE SAID, now you will know it’s NOT RIGHT

    Mother was asked by HIM “how can she improve her technique?”

    And Mother said “it’s far superior to anything I’ve ever made…”

    That shut the b***tard but completely!!!

    I hated the artificialness of it all…I would have preferred to have made my own base, custard and not used canned fruit – but HE had been up on canned foods…in Devon, UK.

    I’ve never made another…actually there are a lot of things HE ate, I’ve never cooked again – although if someone else does, I eat. But I know that no ONE makes the horrid roasts he specialised in – yet again things from his childhood!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Cathy some men beggar belief. I’m glad you have recovered (well I hope you have) from the experience.
      Oh to have been a fly on the wall when your MiL said that😊

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  5. jellied fruit is a favourite of mine. We used to often have banana in lime jelly when I was a kid and then there was the canned jellyfruit available in supermarkets in the eighties. Peaches in passionfruit jelly is what I remember.
    Vietnamese style coffee jelly with cream is super posh and delicious. There’s really no end of variations on this theme

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  6. We used to put small pots of red jelly with raspberries in our school lunch boxes when the fresh fruit was available. (We grew the raspberries.) None of us would eat any colour but the red ones. Orange very occasionally but definitely not green, yellow or purple. I haven’t eaten dessert jelly for years. The jelly cubes in UK were a disappointment because you can sprinkle them on the icing of you Belgian biscuits like you can jelly crystals.

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    1. Green was used when I forked out and bought some chocolate frogs. Frogs in the pond needed a flat tin for a mould so there’d be enough room for five frogs to swim😊

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  7. My mother could serve the most delicious desserts or even salads made with Jello. Some had cream-cheese and nuts or pineapple and cottage cheese, etc. She would use her imagination and I loved all her creations.

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    1. I vaguely remember something I used to make with carnation evaporative milk where you add a near set jelly to the very cold frothy whisked milk.

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  8. Mmm..my mom used to make delicious desserts, but as children jelly was a favourite. Your post made me want to go out and get some. Putting it on my list for next time. Apples, canned pineapple and grapes made their way into the jelly in our home.

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    1. It’s such a simple dessert isn’t it Corinne – come summer I’m going to be trying out some of these suggestions.

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  9. I’m with you on jelly and love making it from scratch too – although that doesn’t make it quite so easy. My fave easy dessert is strawberries steeped in creme de cassis with cream drizzled over it.

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    1. No kiddies in our house now – just a couple of young at heart oldies who don’t mind eating the kid’s table fare😊
      Glad you enjoyed the post Ellen – thank you for dropping in

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  11. We had good friends who once a year held a pig roast and jello party. They provided the pig and each guest had to bring some elaborate jello creation. It was very fun to see the crazy concoctions people came up with.

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  12. Oh my goodness, that was a delicious trip down memory lane with you. I could eat jellies once I was ‘free’ of the naso gastric tube after my oral cancer surgery in 2017 and it was DELICIOUS!! My husband who was getting shopping needs sorted for me before I came home, got in the individual jellies you can now buy (expensive but convenient) and I would ‘value-add’ as I learned from the dietitian to add ice cream or yoghurt or custard. Over the next 14 months I would invent or re-purpose many meals for me with out top teeth and a ton of mess (ok, reconstruction) in my mouth…and jellies are not back on the menu. I think I have had enough! I gave an imperial mandarin a go the other day, sadly too much fibry bits for my new mouth to chew. Still, I got some of that delicious nectar!
    Thank you for linking up for #LifeThisWeek. Next week, we reach the midway point of the link up with Optional Prompt: 26/51 Optimism. Mr W is back with this one! It’s always great to see your post and comments, I appreciate that very much. Denyse.

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