Well, Buddy has snack today at preschool, a fact that I totally forgot (despite having written it on our nice new calendar-as Yankee Bill says, writing it down only helps if you look at it) until our very helpful preschool teacher called and reminded me yesterday. (Thanks Laurie!)
I looked around the house to decided what to make. Baking was out since I had decided to self clean the oven and it was at about 500 degrees until past 6 pm last night (oops!). So I decided to make Jello Jigglers. (Bet you couldn’t see that coming from the title of the post or anything. . . .)
The great thing about Jigglers is that they are inexpensive, can be made “healthy” with the addition of juice, and have that sort of “plastic” junk food quality that kids seem to like (look mom, it’s day glo orange!). Also, since they are so much more solid than regular jello they hold up at room temp and can be taken on picnics etc without having to worry about refrigeration.
Since I usually buy the generic brand gelatin (and the store brand boxes don’t have the recipe on the box), I figured I’d be dual purpose and print the recipe here. This way I can share it with my readers and have it accessible for the next time I need it.
Last night I did a small batch to fit in a 8X8 pan-I’m filling out the jiggler snack with some pretzels and juice. So that is the size this recipe is for.
2 pkgs of instant jello (regular sugar kind-4 servings each)
1 1/2 cups of boiling water or juice
Combine the boiling water and jello and stir for 3 minutes. Then pour into an 8X8 pan and let set in the fridge for several hours until solid. To release from pan, dip the entire pan into hot water for a few minutes (obviously this means to just get the outside hot, not to get the water on the inside) then slide the sheet of jigglers out. They always say that you can cut it into shapes with cookie cutters, but I have always just made plain old cubes.
Thanks for the recipe. I always thinking of baking too when I need to bring a snack somewhere. Good idea!
Re: The juice or water in the jigglers
Is adding the juice just to make it healthier, not anything else special for the recipe? I sometimes do part juice/part water, but I was thinking that also adds sugar (the fruity kind) versus just water. Good sugar/bad sugar, vitamin C w/ the juice, then there’s that whole red dye business…. Yes, now I officially am obsessing about jello jigglers! Yeesh. The thing is, if we’re going to be on a new snack kick, I like being informed about the Junkiness Factor. š
I like your site! Will visit later when I have more time.
Julie
Julie-glad you like the site! The juice is to add some more vitamins (and calories if needed) into the jigglers. I guess the sugariness of it all depends-if you start with regular jello to begin with, then adding the juice adds sugar and calories. If you use sugar free than the calorie/sugar count isn’t too bad, you have the extra fruit serving/vitamins, but have to worry about the equal or splenda in it (if you worry about those things). It’s a judgement call on your part!