Way Out There Recipe #3: Coffee Jelly

Howdy, Jigglers! Today I would like to introduce you to a gelatin-based treat that literally took me years to perfect. Technically, anyway. I first made Coffee Jelly way back in 2018 after hearing about it here. It looked like something I would just love (I mean, you had me at "sweetened condensed milk"), so I made a big pan of it. I no longer remember exactly what I did to make it flop so badly, but suffice it to say that it was so weak and flavorless that I didn't see fit to post about it. If I recall correctly, the jelly itself was not sweet enough, it was too soft and didn't cut into cubes nicely at all, and it was just very weak on the coffee flavor.

I did, however, photograph it.

 

Those aren't cubes. Not even close.

Fast forward to March 2021, when we first started getting some warmer mornings, and for some reason this recipe poppped back into my mind. Armed with better knowledge of coffee after having made the switch from an automatic drip coffeemaker to an electric percolator a year or two ago, I thought it was worth revisiting.

After having failed miserably the first time to make coffee jelly, I made sure to do a couple of extra things to help its chances at being tasty this time around. First, I used this flavored decaf grind from Coffee Beanery (in a coarse grind for perking purposes), as it was what I was drinking anyway, and I thought the flavor would add some richness. I also let it percolate for an extra-long time to get the strongest brew possible.

Then I poured it into a bowl and added two heaping tablespoons of sugar and two heaping tablespoons of my favorite unflavored gelatin (from Vital Proteins--I know I'm name dropping a lot of companies here, but they aren't paying me; I just want you to be able to recreate what I did if desired) and then mixed well. I then greased a loaf pan because it was small enough that I would get the desired cube thickness with the quantity of liquid that I had, and when the coffee was cooled, I put it in the pan and refrigerated until completely hardened.

 

See the difference between how this cut and how my first attempt cut? I attribute that to adding more gelatin per cup than the first time.

Coffee³

 

The next question was about the creamy liquid swirling around amongst those cubes. I didn't have any sweetened condensed milk on hand (I don't know what's gotten into me, I should always have at least two cans around), but I had heavy cream, so I ended up heating the cream with about a tablespoon of sugar and roughly half a cup of water, just to make drinking cream a little less intense. I only cooked this mixture until the sugar was melted and mixed in, then cooled it.

That's more like it.

This time, my coffee jelly was, in a word, decadent. I definitely got a hint of the butter rum flavor, which was sumptuous with the sweetened cream. The jelly itself was strongly coffee-flavored, not too sweet, and close to being chewy, which is my personal favorite texture of gelatin. My loaf pan made enough jelly for three small cups or two large cups (though I can't imagine eating a tall glass of this concoction all at once, that's how rich it is). Coffee jelly is not going to be replacing cold brew as my daily coffee fix in the summer any time soon, just because of how much sugar is involved, but it makes a great treat. It would be divine served after an al fresco summer brunch.

The next time I make this, I will use some sweetened condensed milk, though I will have to convince myself to use it sparingly. As far as the jelly goes, the only thing I might want to do is make double the amount by making two percolators' worth of coffee.

"But...I don't have a percolator!" I hear you say. Well, in that case, I can also make some suggestions. The first one is to use an automatic drip machine, just with a couple of extra tablespoons of coffee added, maybe four extra for a full pot or two extra for half a pot. This will make your coffee strong to start with. Secondly, if you have any doubts about the strength of your coffee, add some instant coffee to it. Cooling down the gelatin reduces the strength of its flavor massively, and even if the final product is pretty strong, the cream will cut its flavor considerably, so you want to err on the side of too strong rather than too weak. Alternatively, you could cut out the middleman and use instant coffee to begin with. It seems that's what most people do, so it must work. 

In any case, I highly recommend giving coffee jelly a try this spring or summer. It's rich, it's stylish, and, most importantly, it's a gelatin dish that has been trendy within the past decade, and that's enough in my book. Enjoy!