“Glass…glass, hmm…I’ve got it: ‘alas’!” – Linus Larrabee, Sabrina
With Easter approaching (or, ahem, upon us), I wanted to make something light and springy – in taste and appearance, not texture. No one likes rubbery cake. Years ago, my grandmother used to make a dessert we called “Broken Glass”. A quick Google search reveals that yes, this is still something that people know about, and recipes abound. I used this one, but I think I’ll re-write it for myself to better order the steps.
If you decide to make this, you really ought to consider making your gelatin first. The recipe calls for strawberry, lime, and orange, but I opted for a cherry-lemon-berry blue combination. You’re limited only by your imagination, your personal preferences, and what’s readily available in your local grocery stores. (There, that’s not very limiting, is it?!)
Although the crust is the first step in the recipe – and the second, if you count “chill” as a step – I held off on making it until my gelatin was nice and firm. The crust really doesn’t need to chill for that long, and you want to make sure you’ll have sufficient fridge space for everything. If you’ve got a gloriously large and/or empty fridge, good for you; feel free to shove everything in there at once to chill and/or firm up.
A word about the dreadfully ambiguous eighth step “Set aside until slightly thickened”: I have no idea what “slightly thickened” means, especially since at no time are we told to put it in the fridge to start the thickening/setting process. At last, something that doesn’t go in the fridge! When I made this, I let it cool to room temperature so that it wouldn’t completely dissolve my formerly-frozen, now-thawed whipped topping.
And a quick word about pineapple juice: make sure it’s pure pineapple juice, unsweetened, and untainted by other “filler” juices. My friend made this recipe using a pineapple/apple/pear blend, and it left a funny taste to the filling.
You should wind up with something that looks like this.
Isn’t it pretty when it’s cut?
This makes a light, fruity dessert that goes down easily. It’s also a great recipe for summer because there’s no oven involved – and no stovetop, either, if you boil your water and pineapple juice in the microwave.
Thanks for looking – and Happy Easter! 🙂
The Witty Child 