Week 51: Santa Goes Vegan and Yuletide Gelatin
For the month of December, I thought 52 Saturdays would be jam-packed with Christmas cookies, sweets, breads, festive menu items, and beverages—but, life had a different plan…
My Christmas kind of imploded!
I’m sad. I don’t want to make Christmas cookies for myself. I don’t want to make Christmas cookies for others. I don’t even want to eat Christmas cookies. However, those festive holiday beverages? Well, those are still very appealing!
Despite my sadness, I did really enjoy sharing this week’s recipe with my son Alex and his girlfriend, as we celebrated Yule (aka Yuletide, which is a period of celebration that is observed this year from December 21 through January 1) together. We carved (well, actually we drew) runes on the Yule log and performed a“blot”,which means sacrifice.
Together, we came up with a humane meal of root vegetables, free-range eggs, and—instead of the traditional pig sacrifice— a goat cheese and jam dish that Jenny brilliantly created to resemble blood and gore 😉
Whether you believe in Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle, and/or Norse Gods, and hold true to mythology, pagan, and/or other spiritual beliefs, they all share common threads, including the concepts of good vs. evil; rebirth; the sun or the Son; peace and goodwill; caring for others; and forgiveness.
So this week’s Kris Kringle recipe was well-timed, as the namesake embodies the spirit of giving. Revamping this into a vegan-friendly recipe allowed me to celebrate health, goodwill, and compassion!
As a kid I used to love this dish. Let’s face it, sugary Jell-O plus sweet fruit plus sour cream does not a salad make. Seriously, there’s nothing salad-like about this, it’s a dessert!
Original Recipe
The Process:
Well, there is absolutely nothing healthy about this dessert, regardless of how delicious the sweet and the tart and the sour taste all together in one bite. My first mission was to find a vegan gelatin substitute—no horse hooves allowed—and my Facebook friends delivered. Luckily, my local health food store had a couple of options, so that was easy enough.
The only issue is that the vegan gelatin directions say not to use pineapple juice, which made me worried about using pineapple chunks fresh or frozen. While pineapple and Jell-O do taste delicious together, I liked the idea of using cherries and strawberries, so I did, which kept it all red and festive-looking.
The next step, was deciding on the sugar substitute. When I first started 52 Saturdays, I bought a 5-pound bag of erythritol, so this seemed like as good a time as any to use it.
Replacing the cherry red artificial color of Jell-O brand gelatin was easy enough, with cranberry, pomegranate, or tart cherry juice. In this case, I just used the one that was on sale.
Now, for the sour cream … I really love sour cream and I really love it when it is slightly sweetened, but I wanted to make this completely vegan so that I could serve it to my dairy-free daughter-in-law. While I think that any dairy free sour cream or yogurt would work just fine, I chose the least processed option and purchased coconut milk yogurt. By incorporating a touch of sweetener into a little bit of lemon juice, and then adding it to the mix, I was able to achieve the tartness that regular sour cream provides.
I didn’t have a clear glass baking dish, nor did I have a mold, but I did rummage through my china hutch and find these cute little glasses, which were perfect for portion control, as well as presentation.
Results:
These were a hit!
Perfectly sweet, with perfectly set and equally delicious tart gelatin that wasn’t overwhelmed with too much fruit. Jenny is not a big fan of fruit salad, nor am I, as the food always tastes kind of weird and soggy, but this was just the right amount.
I will definitely serve this next Christmas when, hopefully, I have some company. Insert sad mom face here!
Ingredients:
2 – 3oz boxes vegan unflavored gelatin dessert powder
4 cups of no-sugar added cranberry or cranberry pomegranate juice
2/3 cup of erythritol (more if desired)
Frozen unsweetened strawberries and cherries
1 pint vegan unsweetened yogurt or sour cream
1 teaspoon lime or lemon juice
Small dessert serving bowls, glasses, or shot glasses
Directions:
Thaw strawberries and cherries.
Drop a couple of strawberries and a cherry into the bottom of each small serving glass.
Following the instructions of the gelatin package, replace water with cranberry juice. Stir in erythritol until completely dissolved.
Pour gelatin over the strawberries and the cherry in the glass.
While the gelatin is setting, mix a small amount of erythritol and lime juice into the yogurt.
When the gelatin is pretty well set, top with the yogurt (sour cream alternative).
Refrigerate overnight.
Note:
I tried adding another layer of gelatin to the top, but because the vegan gelatin set so quickly, my plans were fouled. If you would like a layered dessert, I recommend making a second package. But, I actually preferred the way it looked when it was just the red and the white … it looked more like a Santa hat!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Week 51 Recipe Pick
TBA
This week is the last recipe…I’m not sure what to select. There are so many recipes I’ve yet to make and I want to find a traditional New Years Recipe
Researching
These turned out gorgeous, Kit! Wow! I think with this one you’re finally mastering the art of recipe conversion.
I’ve been there in the sad holiday department. While this holiday isn’t what you hoped for may it be a time of looking forward, reflection, hope, health and well-being and embracing change.
Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year!
Thank you my dear! Yes to all of the above regarding the holiday. I wish the same for you and yours and let’s,make sure 2018 includes a visit!