Joys of Jell-O Recipe #3: Ladyfinger Dessert

Since the first time I read this recipe, I approached it with a mix of excitement and doubt. As much as these cookbooks talk up whipped Jell-O, I wasn't sure how well it would work as a gelatin variant, especially with a ladyfinger crust. There are ladyfingers all over this book, but the idea just doesn't make a lot of sense initially (particularly to me, since I'm not that fond of them to begin with). I also wondered before making it why I had made the Pastel Pie with cherry Jell-O when the next two recipes are cherry-flavored as well. Guess I'll get my cherry gelatin fix in for the next 50 years.

So I gathered all the ingredients together as instructed, except that I used black cherry juice and unflavored gelatin instead of Jell-O. Now, a quick word about juice ratios: in the not-too-distant past, I made a grape gelatin with grape juice, substituting the juice for 1/4 of the water that one would normally use. With grape juice, that worked just fine and I had a fruity, purple gelatin. Since cherry juice is a little less strong, I used half juice and half water. In the future, I would recommend using 100% juice for the best-tasting results, though, again, if using a very pungent juice you can get away with less.

This recipe is fairly simple and I made it as instructed, down to the maraschino cherries and almond extract. But it's time for a confession: I don't have a pie dish, and I couldn't even be bothered to buy a disposable aluminum one, so I just put this in a 8x8" ceramic casserole dish. This dish probably has more area, perimeter, and depth than your average pie plate, so the layers wound up being thinner than they probably would in a pie tin. Also, I needed more ladyfingers to surround the filling than you would with a pie plate. However, what I noticed was that the whipped part of the filling came very close to filling the dish regardless, so I suspect you would have leftover whipped gelatin if using a pie plate.

Since there was no specific special occasion that would lend itself to a whipped cream decoration for this dish, I deferred to my husband's suggestion of drawing a panda out of whipped cream. I did this with a humble zipper sandwich bag, and I was happy with the results as I'm not much of an artist. I believe, though, that if you cut a very small corner off of a sandwich bag, you could pipe out some fairly nice lettering, like "Congrats," "I <3 U," or "Happy New Year" or something like that. Side note on the whipped cream: I stabilized my whipped cream with two tablespoons of powdered sugar, and it did hold its shape well the entire five-day period that this dish lasted, but you can also use a little bit of gelatin to achieve the same effect.

So, how did the Ladyfinger Dessert turn out? Well, I thought. The pure gelatin layer tasted like normal gelatin, although I much prefer real juice flavoring to the box mix flavoring. The ladyfinger "crust" really surprised me--after hanging out with the gelatin, the cookies soften, resulting in an angel food cake-like texture, which works very well with the rest of the flavors. The almond extract adds a touch of class to the whole affair, and the whipped cream adds a nice flavor contrast, breaking up the cherry overload. If making this again, I would omit the coconut, as it doesn't add much except a little sugar and fat. However, the maraschino cherries provided nice strong bursts of flavor, though I might prefer to have them sprinkled over the top of the dish to add more color as well (and so as not to startle anyone who didn't realize they were there and expected pure gelatin).

But the real question is, of course, the whipped gelatin. As it turns out, when whipped, gelatin takes on a foamy, spongy texture. It's like you took the head off of a freshly poured soda or beer and hardened it just slightly so the bubbles wouldn't go away. As you would expect from that analogy, the flavor is much less pronounced in the whipped layer, but it certainly still comes through. If using Jell-O, I imagine the whipped layer would be slightly pinkish, but with black cherry juice, it ended up an interesting Victorian mauve, which I quite liked.

 

All in all, the Ladyfinger Dessert is a good idea that just needs a couple of minor tweaks to make an officially Good Dessert. I think it would make a particularly fitting treat for after a light lunch or tea with friends, as it won't weigh you down if you plan on doing something after eating it, even if you eat a good deal of it. And I'll go ahead and say it: kudos to the General Foods team (or whoever first thought of it) for thinking to put ladyfingers in gelatin, because it's honestly really nice.