Is Jello a side dish or a dessert at your house? At my house it’s always a side dish. Seriously, if you even have to ask yourself this question it really shouldn’t count as a dessert. Dessert should be dripping or packed with either chocolate, butter, frosting. I don’t even count apple pie as dessert. Come on, it has fruit in it. That makes it breakfast, unless it’s dripping with caramel! So for the rest of this post Red Hot Pear Jello will be referred to as a side dish. I guess since it has candy in it you might be able to justify it as dessert. I’m not going there though. It’s easier to just have a cut and dry rule: Jello is a side dish!
Kids adore Jello. It’s a sneaky way to add some fruit to their day without them even realizing it. My kids would eat and entire pan of Jello if it looked just like this. Really, who could resist Jello made from pureed pears and red hot candies?
Or this! Who can resist whipped cream out of a can? Obviously not my boys. Every time I leave them home to babysit themselves I end up with an empty can of whipped cream. Apparently they tip their heads back and see how much they can pile in each others mouths before it all spills out. I don’t want to know what else they do when they are babysitting themselves. In my mind, them eating all the whipped cream is the naughtiest thing they do and would like to keep thinking that.
- 1 6 oz box cherry jello
- 2 c. water
- 2 c. pears, puree
- ⅛ c. red hot candies
- Whipping cream.
- I used my Vitamix for this and it worked great. I'm sure any blender will work though. Add red hots to blender and blend until they are granular. Reserve a few for garnish if desired.
- Add pears to blender and blend until pureed.
- Boil 2 cups water. Remove from heat. Dissolve jello in water.
- Add pureed pear mixture to jello.
- Pour into a 9x9 pan.
- Refrigerate for about 3 hours or until firm
- Cut into squares. Top with whipped cream. Sprinkle with additional crushed red hots.
- Serve immediately.
Adding a few crushed red hots to the top makes it even better! The kids think Red Hot Pear Jello tastes like candy. It probably does since it has candy in it. They also think it’s extra cool that something packed with candy is a side dish! That’s a Mom point for me!
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