Bonjour! It's almost time for Mardi Gras, which means overeating, debauchery, and the fuel of both of those activities: booze! And in the form of Mardi Gras Jello shots!
Jello shots are a nostalgic treat that take me back to my party days, where my more fastidious and forward-thinking friends would plan ahead and make Jello shots for the party, or the Wednesday night, or whatever occasion. Sometimes these things would taste like cherry flavored gasoline, and other times they were too delicious for their own good. But we could recover from it then, not so much these days.
These Mardi Gras themed Jello shots do take a little more planning ahead, as the layering requires a lot of fridge time, but they are worth it to hear everyone talk about how cool they are, and the effort isn't too great — just set aside an afternoon to make them and you can do other stuff between layers.
Why make them like this rather than with three flavors of premade Jell-O, you ask? Well, for starters, my grocery store didn't sell purple or yellow Jell-O, just green. And three flavors of Jell-O together sounds gross, plus this way you can control all of the ingredients and make it as crazy or tame as you want. I failed at the proportions on these a few times but this time it's right. It does burn a little on the way down, but I think jello shots should still taste like alcohol so they aren't too tempting to overindulge — so these do have a bite!
Mardi Gras Jello Shots
Equipment
- Plastic disposable condiment cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups lemon flavored carbonated water
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅛ cup lemon juice
- ½ cup Triple Sec
- 1 ½ cups vodka
- food coloring: purple, green, yellow
- 3 envelopes Knox gelatin
- 24 1 oz. condiment cups with lids
- ¾ cup water, divided
Instructions
- Set out three equal sized bowls.
- Mix the lemon carbonated water, sugar, lemon juice, Triple Sec, and vodka together in a large mixing down, stirring until sugar dissolves.
- Pour equally into the three bowls. Add food coloring to each bowl: purple, yellow, green. Stir with a spoon to mix.
- Heat up ¼ cup water in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup with a spout (or something similar with a spout) for 60 seconds. Take the hot water out of the microwave and add in one gelatin package. Use a spoon to stir, let sit for 2 minutes until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
- Add one bowl of what will be the bottom layer color into the gelatin. Stir together well.
- Line up the condiment cups on a baking sheet. Evenly pour the gelatin color mixture into the cups. Pour a little at a time, you can always add more to each cup to make them even. You may not need all of the gelatin mixture for the first layer and can throw it out when done.
- Refrigerate the first layer for at least 2 hours.
- Repeat steps 3-7 for the next two layers.
Enjoy these responsibly and feel free to experiment with flavor combinations. I just went with lemon here because it was safe, I had two cans to use, and it reminded me of a lemon drop. These could easily be made cosmopolitan-esque with cranberry carbonated water and lime juice. MMM.
These can also be made in any color combination, so think red, white, and blue for patriotic holidays; school colors for sports events; or even your favorite colors for just because!
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