Have you ever eaten a Jell-O shot?
The alcoholic rainbow confections are almost as ubiquitous at college parties as those notorious red plastic cups. And yet, due to turning vegetarian at age 14, I’ve never actually tried one.
Not that I mind… Jell-O is too sweet and not chocolatey enough for me anyway. So when I recently came across a recipe for chocolate jello shots (without gelatin) in the cookbook Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts by Fran Costigan, I was super excited to finally try them out.
I brought the homemade jello shots to a Friendsgiving party (basically Thanksgiving, but with friends instead of family). All of the same Thanksgiving foods are normally present at Friendsgiving: stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, chocolate jello shots… well, maybe the jello shots were a little out of place. But no one seemed to mind!
Chocolate Jello Shots
- scant 1 1/2 tbsp agar flakes (3g)
- 1 cup water (240g)
- 1/3 cup sugar of choice (60g)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder (25g)
- 1/4 cup vodka (I think water would work for an alcohol-free version, but I haven’t tried it) (60g)
In a small saucepan, stir together the water and agar flakes. Without turning on the heat, let sit 10-15 minutes. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower to a simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring very occasionally until the agar flakes are dissolved. Add all other ingredients except the vodka, and whisk to dissolve. Turn off the heat and add the vodka. Immediately pour into 9-10 shot glasses and refrigerate uncovered 20-30 minutes until gel has set. For best taste, be sure to use Dutch cocoa powder in this recipe. Please drink responsibly, and if you enjoy this recipe be sure to check out the book from which it was adapted: Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts by Fran Costigan.
Questions of the Day:
Have you ever tried a Jell-O shot? And have you ever attended a Friendsgiving?
Link of the Day:
I have agar powder, instead of flakes. Does anyone know how much of this I would use instead?
I know this comment is almost a year old, lol, but anyways – I used the same amount of agar powder as the amount of agar flakes given in the recipe and the shots turned out just fine. Also I went for water instead of vodka without any problems.
Loved this recipe, I’ll definitely experiment with it again, adding some kind of flavoring etc. 😀
I don’t do alcohol at all, but I had to post an interesting fact about the Jell-O shot.
Did you know it was reportedly invented by Tom Lehrer? Yeah, the guy that write the song about the elements.