So a few days ago, I got a text from Sara saying that she noticed I had holiday Jello something on the calendar and was wondering if I was FINALLY posting my soon-to-be-world-famous Jello/cottage cheese/shredded carrot concoction. I texted her back that I was. And then I couldn’t stand myself any longer because if there’s one thing I never joke about, it’s cottage cheese and vegetables in my Jello and told her I was planning on doing this.
but you can adapt it for any holiday–red and green for Christmas purists, white and red for Valentine’s Day, green for St. Patrick’s Day, red, white, and blue for the 4th of July, the list goes on and on.
Clear out an entire shelf of your fridge. Take 4 small plastic food storage containers; you can use any shape and you can even mix and match. Spray them with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Bring about 5 cups of water (no need to measure right now) to a boil. When it has come to a boil, measure out 1 cup of water. Whisk in 1 package of Jello and stir until it’s dissolved.
Pour it into one of the prepared containers:
and repeat with the remaining flavors of Jello and boiling water.
Place these in the refrigerator (uncovered) for at least 4 hours, but overnight is really preferable.
When the Jello has set up, you’ll need to prepare the white “filling.” Sprinkle 2 packets of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 c. of cold water. In the meantime, bring 1 1/2 c. water to a boil (you could totally do this in the microwave in a large glass measuring cup). When the gelatin has stood for 4-5 minutes, add the boiling water and stir to dissolve.
Add in the can of sweetened condensed milk
and whisk the mixture until the milk is fully incorporated into the water/gelatin mixture. Allow the milk mixture to cool while you prepare the color cubes.
Remove the colored Jello from the fridge and carefully cut it into squares.
When I say “carefully,” I mean to try and not have too many jagged edges, but don’t worry about making the squares perfect. Part of the beauty of this Jello is a little variation!
Lightly spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray. Gently toss the cubes together in the pan.
Some of the blocks will float to the top. You may need to rearrange things a little so you don’t have all of one color in one area of the pan and so the cubes are evenly distributed. Also, poke down some of the floaters so they’re not COMPLETELY protruding from the white mixture.
Place the pan on a completely level surface in the fridge and refrigerate, (uncovered) overnight or at least 8 hours.
When you’re ready to serve, carefully cut these bad boys into squares or rectangles
or you could even use cookie cutters.
Prepare yourself for lots of “oohs” and “aahs“!
Glass Block Holiday Jello
4 3-oz. packages assorted Jello (in coordinating colors)
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
Spray 4 small food storage containers (like Tupperware/Gladware/Rubbermaid) with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
Bring 5+ cups of water to a boil. Combine 1 c. boiling water with 1 package of Jello, stirring until dissolved. Place the dissolved Jello in one of the prepared containers. Repeat with the remaining packages of Jello. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferable overnight.
When the Jello has set, bring another 1 1/2 c. of water to a boil. While the water is heating, sprinkle 2 packets of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 c. of cold water. Allow to stand for about 4 minutes. When the water is boiling, pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over the dissolved gelatin and stir to combine. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix well. Allow to come to room temperature.
Lightly spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully cut the colored Jello into cubes and gently toss to combine in the 9×13″ pan. Pour the cooled milk mixture over the colored Jello and, if necessary, rearrange some of the colored Jello to make sure it is evenly distributed and not sticking out of the white mixture too far.
Place the 9×13″ pan in the refrigerator and chill overnight. Cut into squares, rectangles, or various shapes with cookie cutters and serve.
Questions & Reviews
I know this is an old post, but I just had to comment anyway. I was told to bring jello for thanksgiving and remembered this recipe, but couldn’t remember where I saw it. So I did a quick search, found it, and got to work. Needless to say I was not on your site, and the directions were not clear. I searched again and saw that it was on your site. So much clearer! thanks for taking the time to always include all the little details!!!!
Oi Sara,
Nós não conhecemos mas encontrei o seu blog hoje sem querer e descobri que você fala Português e gosta de culinária brasileira, então quero te passar minha receita preferida de Gelatina Colorida (que você chama de Glass Block Holiday Jello). Acho que você vai gostar desse receita que usa creme de leite além do leite condensado e tem uma cor mais bonita de rosinha do que só branco.
Beijo,
A. B.
Gelatina Colorida
Ingredientes:
4 cx. de gelatina (sabores diferentes)
1 lata de leite condensado
1 lata de creme de leite
1 cx. gelatina sabor morango
Modo de Preparo:
Prepare as 4 cx. de gelatina separadas de acordo com as instruções das embalagens. Corte em quadradinhos e reserve. Bater no liquidificador, o leite condensado, o creme de leite e a gelatina sabor morango dissolvida em 1 copo de água fria e 1 copo de água quente, por aproximadamente 5 minutos. Misturar este creme na gelatina colorida. Mexer e levar para gelar novamente.
Rendimento: 15 porções
Where on earth was this when I was doing my daughters Rainbow Birthday party?! I’m going to have to try this for Christmas or Valentines day with matching colours. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, I’m wondering if its possible to pour a different colour of jello mix instead of condensed milk? My family hates condensed milk or milky products in general. Or perhaps there is another alternative to condensed milk.
These look cool? Can’t wait to try the recipe. How much in quantity is 2 packets of gelatine? Here in Australia, our packaging quantities are often different.
Thank you!
We used to make this in Brasil for Christmas! I need make it again! Thank you!
I picked up this recipe here a couple of years ago (sorry I never commented!) It’s become a holiday staple at my house, where my nieces and nephews LOVE IT. Thank you for the great idea!
This is awesome! I would like to make this for a party but want to make it beforehand. I think someone already asked but I couldn’t find an answer, how long do you all think it should keep in the refrig?
thanks!
a day or two is fine.
Sounds yummy and looks fabulous!!
What size containers do you use for the jello to set? Does it matter?
For example if we only use two colors of jello what size containers do you use, height, depth, & width?
There’s really no set size, you’ll just have to eyeball it! Just imagine the size of little squares you want and go from there.
I made this yesterday. It did come out slightly yellow instead of white though, and i used the same ingredients you showed in your picture. But it tasted great and i will definitely make it again!.
Will it be okay to add the sweet condensed milk without mixing it with the unflavored gelatin mix? Do you think the outcome would still be the same?
I totally made this a million times, it wall called Broken Glass Dessert, and instead of sweetened condensed milk it was plain milk with pineapple jello in it, I’m sure this is thicker and richer. We also put it on a graham wafer crust, so there’s a variation for you.
I made this for an 80s party and called them Rubik’s cube jello. They were a huge hit!
Made it for my daughter’s 6th b’day party this past weekend. The theme was rapunzel so used all four rapunzel colore Jell-O. Was a hit!!Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Dear Sara and Kate,
I found your website looking for this multi-colored Jello creation, I’m a few months behind the times but oh well. I’m going to a luau this weekend and I needed something different.
I’m a guy. I can be lazy, and am always looking for shortcuts for recipes. There is only one shortcut for your multi-color Jello. Ice Cube Trays. I made all the Jello squares using a plastic ice cube trays from the dollar store.
Spray the ice cube trays with cooking spray, add Jello, let it sit in the refrigerator. Pop them out with a small rubber spatula. Presto, instant Jello cubes. I ended up using two trays per color. (I doubled the recipe.)
I also made one other change in the recipe to zip up the flavor, but I’ll save that for another time.
You are the only food website I have booked marked.
You both Rock.
Regards,
Bill, that is GENIUS!
it says 4 flavors of jello. but you used 5. did you use all of the jello from the 5? i may never see the reply, with 135 already comments. but thought i’d ask anyways in case i should find it.
I made this for a kid’s birthday party and it was a huge hit. Some of the Jello squares had a hard layer to them. I thinking it’s b/c I didn’t let the white milk mixture cool to room temp. I’ll make them again b/c they look really cool and everyone loved them!
Wow! I’ve been trying to get this recipe for years… I’ve only been able to eat try this jello once and I loved it. And now I can’t wait to make it myself…
No one in my house likes Jello, they all pretend too though. But when they saw how pretty this was the kids couldnt wait to see it for real. It is sweltering so some cool Jello will be nice to have tomorrow. How bad can condensed milk Jello be? It reminds me of those candies that are white creamy soft goo with chewy gum drops- love them.
Made some for July 4th. Red, White and Blue! It was super easy and a huge hit! This is going to be a party favorite for every holiday.
When I was a child, my 80 year old mother used to make Broken Glass Cake, with this very similar recipe, with the addition of pouring it over a graham cracker crust. Thanks for the reminder of a great childhood memory of telling people I ate “glass cake”!
Looking at the Glass block Holiday Jello and it’s a have to make! BUT..what if my guess can’t have milk? Are there any subs?
My good friend makes this recipe, she calls it Japanese jello. She makes it a bit different than the glass block window look. Instead, she freezes each layer one at a time. Between each layer she has the sweeten condensed milk. She alternates the jello with the scmilk. It turns out so pretty and the kids seem to love eating them. They don’t by any means look like the fancy homemade soap!LOL.
Have you ever tried adding an vodka for an adult version?
Stacy, we haven’t, but I know a lot of other people have mentioned that they did and enjoyed it 🙂
OMGs, I just stumbled onto this site… I love it! What a cute jello idea! Don’t you just love the internet????
Hello! I love your blog. My mom told me about it a month or two ago. I sat down to look at it and, knowing myself, gave myself 20 minutes because I knew I could very easily get sucked into a time warp aon a site like this. Anyway, I got to your site and after about 5 minutes determined that 20 minutes would not be enough so I went ahead and ordered a copy of your book for myself and another copy for my mom! I love it. Everything I have tried so far has been great. I would love it if you could mark on your recipe titles that they are in your book. I get on several times a week and sometimes I see something and wonder if I should print it out or if I already have it. I am sure it will only be a matter of time before I have memorized the index but for now I am going back and forth from the computer to my cookbook through the living room and across the kitchen. Just a suggestion!
I made this with Easter colors for our Easter dinner and it was so fun and colorful on the table. I followed your directions exactly and it turned out just like the pictures. FUn, FUn!! –Thank You!
wow, that’s the coolest thing ever!! lol
Thanks for sharing!! you have a great blog! I subscribed via email!