Glass Block Holiday Jello {Festive!}

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“!