Rainbow Jello Cups Birthday Treat

Rainbow Jello Cups

So what does one do when you have a classroom of peanut allergy kids… How about a cup of whipped cream and jello?  Who doesn't like the colorful sugary treat?  Looks beautiful but be warned,  it'll shimmy away a whole day to create this bright and cheery treat.  It took me from 9:30am -6:00pm without a break.

Items needed:

29 Cups = 9 fl oz plastic cups

Jello in rainbow colors

3 (3oz boxes) Cherry Red = 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Orange 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Lemon Yellow = 4 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Lime Green = 3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Berry Blue =3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

3 (3oz boxes) Berry Blue + Black Cherry = Purple =3 cups both cream layer and jello layer

 2 Quarts Heavy Cream

Powder Sugar

Patience & 9 hours

*Optional*

Vanilla Pudding Jello Mix

Granulated Sugar

Viola.  Yum.

I made my cups for my little kindergartener.  He needed 24 cups so I made extra just in case of a mess.  29 total rainbow cups were made in 8-1/2 hours.  To say it was time consuming is an understatement.  However, it went over well and the kids with peanut allergies could eat them, too.  That made the Cutie-Pie happy and me.  It was nice and a privilege that the peanut allergy kids' parents allowed their kids to enjoy the treat.

1.  In a bowl mix the 2 boxes Blue Berry + 2 boxes Black Cherry jello to make the color PURPLE.  Separate 3 heaping TBLS of the mix into a smaller bowl.  Then put 2 heaping TBLS into a bag for a rainy day.  (Each 3 oz jello box = 6 TBLS of mix) This makes the PURPLE layers equal to the other bottom colors in flavor.

2.  Boil 2/3 Cup water and then add 3 TBLS Jello (from small bowl)  Mix and set aside for 20 minutes.

3.  Make homemade whip cream.   (1 pint heavy cream =  2 TBLS of powder sugar)  I normally make my whip cream with a 1/2 pint cream + 1 tbls powder sugar + 1 capful vanilla  + 1 tbls white sugar.  This recipe was too sweet.    With a classroom of kids I did not use vanilla extract.  THE POWDER SUGAR IS TO KEEP THE WHIP CREAM STABLE.  You can also add 1 tsp of vanilla pudding if you want to keep the vanilla flavor.  Not a problem if you don't want to make homemade whip cream, the original recipe uses cool whip.  Crazy me, I used a hand mixer since mine broke at Christmas time making cookies.  It took me 20 minutes to whip each quart of heavy cream.  If you whip 2 quarts of cream together, use an extra large bowl.

4.  Pour cooled PURPLE JELLO liquid into 4 C measuring cup.  Add 1/3 cup tap water.  Mix thoroughly then add whipped cream until you reach 3 cups.  Mixture should be slightly runny to pour into your cups.

5.  Refrigerate cream for 30 minutes

6.  Rinse out measuring cups.  Make PURPLE jello mixture.  Boil 2 cups water and pour into large bowl with jello.  Stir.  Let cool for 40 min.  Pour into 4 C measuring cup.  Add enough tap water to make 3 cups jello mixture.  Stir.  The tap water cools down the liquid enough to pour into cups.  DO NOT RUSH THE COOLING PART.  You'll have a layer of the cream mixture sitting on top of your jello layer… won't be pretty!

7.  Refrigerate jello layer 20 minutes

8.  Repeat steps 2-5 for all colors.

9.  Rinse out measuring cups and start BLUE whipped cream layer.   Boil 2/3 C water add 3 TBLS cool 20 min.  Add 1/3 C tap water stir.  Move to larger measuring cup (I do this because mine's plastic) add whipped cream.  Continue until you reach the color YELLOW and then make 4 cups.  (1/3 C water +1 TBLS jello = 1 Cup tinted cream mix)

10.  I realize the jello mix does not increase with the increase amount of water for colors: YELLOW, ORANGE, AND RED which use 4 cups of the jello liquid.  This is fine.  Boil 2 cups water pour into bowl with jello mix.  Cool for 40 minutes.  Add tap water until it measures 4 cups.  If you want, add an extra box to these colors.  I did not taste a difference in flavor with the same 3 boxes.

11.  Keep refrigerated and covered after all the layers have cooled.  I used mine the next day.  

12.  I also cleaned out fridge and put fresh baking soda boxes into fridge the day before I made the cups.  I didn't want the cups to smell of anything except yummy fruit flavors.  It worked.  Also, I made sure the bottom of refrigerator was level by testing water a few cups before I put all 29 cups in.

Good luck and enjoy!