Buckle your seat belts.  It’s Friday and we’re making Jell-O shots.

In retrospect, I probably should have posted this recipe before the Super Bowl, but I wasn’t planning ahead.  Or rather, I was probably planning ahead for something else.  Mardi Gras is coming up, you know.

We came across this recipe last year before our Super Bowl party and while they turned out awesome, the directions were pretty confusing and we may or may not have had to rush out and buy back up ingredients.  Luckily, the Jell-O shots were saved but I wasn’t really into making mistakes again this time.  So this year, we walked ourselves through the steps and made sure it all made sense, and now I’m about to do the same for you.

Super Bowl Jell-O Shots

Part 1:

• 4 cups water
• 4 envelopes gelatin
• 1 3-oz. box of Jell-O per team color (4 boxes total)
• 4 cups ice cold vodka or rum

1. Pour each box of Jell-O into its own separate bowl (1 box per bowl).
2. Pour 4 cups water in a saucepan and sprinkle with 4 envelopes of gelatin.  Let soak 1-2 minutes, then heat over low, stirring constantly until gelatin has dissolved (~5 minutes).
3. Divide hot gelatin evenly between the 4 bowls containing flavored Jell-O.  Let cool for a few minutes, then stir 1 cup alcohol into each of the 4 bowls.  Pour into 4 separate containers to chill.  We used 8X8 casserole dishes.
4. Let fully set in the fridge.

Part 2:

• 4 cups water
• 5 envelopes gelatin
• 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1. Pour water into saucepan, add gelatin and allow to soak 1-2 minutes.  Heat over low heat, stirring constantly until gelatin has dissolved (~5 minutes).  Stir in milk and cool to room temperature.
2. Cut colored Jell-O into small blocks and mix each pair of team colors as desired in 2 8X8 dishes.
3. Once milk mixture has fully cooled, divide between the 2 8X8 dishes containing the colored Jell-O.  Skim off any bubbles, then chill.
4. To serve, cut into squares and plate.

Did that all make sense?  No?  Yes?  Hopefully.

Cheap vodka is more than fine.  If Burnett’s reminds you of college, then I wouldn’t take a big whiff.  But I wouldn’t know anything about that.  Also, make sure to buy the biggest box they have of gelatin.  You can never have too much plain gelatin.

Each flavor gets it’s own bowl.  We have 5 packets of Jell-O because we mixed purple and orange in an effort to make black.  In an effort.  But it turned out more gold, which luckily worked for the Ravens.

Pretend you don’t notice how chipped our bowls are.

How weird (and gross) is plain gelatin.  I had nightmares of my 7th grade science class and trying to recreate a cell with plain gelatin.  But then I was distracted by the god-awful smell of the gelatin.  Breathe through your mouth while stirring, okay?

Each color gets its own casserole dish.  Let it be known that the Jell-O stuck to the glass dishes and made it a little bit harder to cut after it had set.

Also, wash your dishes ASAP, lest the Jell-O should become permanently coated on them.

Once set, cut that Jell-O up!  Into cute little squares.

Like so.  Then mix it up with your hands.

Again, like so.  Told you it turned out gold.

Mix the two team colors together and put into an 8X8 dish.  Oooh, pretty!

This is when you mix up the condensed milk mixture, allow it to cool (otherwise it’ll melt the pretty Jell-O jewels) and pour it over the Jell-O.  It’ll fill all the extra space around the Jell-O and that’s just what you want.  This is also when you’ve let the daylight get away from you and can no longer take decent looking pictures, so use your imagination.  We took some toothpicks to the pan after pouring on the milk, to pop any of the big bubbles.  Then just stick it in the fridge, let it set and cut it into big ol’ blocks.

And look how cool they turn out!

In case you think these are as awesome as we do and are sad that the Super Bowl is over, don’t fret, because you could cater these to any occasion.  Pick up some purple and yellow Jell-O and add some green food coloring to the milk mixture and you have yourself some Mardi Gras Jell-O shots.  Versatility is a wonderful thing.

And so are Jell-O shots.