This is a gelatin dessert that is light and not too sweet–perfect for warmer weather. Read through the directions carefully before beginning since there are several steps and some could be confusing and some require extra time for chilling.
I like serving this gelled dessert with strawberries which are a low sugar fruit. It is made with organic, pure pineapple juice (bottled, not made from concentrate–found in health food stores). Best to keep the portion size small as too much fructose, even if it is from whole fruit or whole fruit juice, is not a good thing. It can contribute to a fatty liver and who wants that?
Also, the gelatin won’t set if you add fresh pineapple juice or pineapple fruit to it–the pineapple has to be heated (canned or pasteurized) to deactivate the enzyme that prevents gelatin from working. One other note, you could use organic whipping cream instead of the coconut whipped cream. The recipe for coconut whipped cream is here.
Serves 4
1 Tbsp. of gelatin (I use Great Lakes–be sure to get their gelatin as the collagen they sell won’t gel. You could use Knox but Great Lakes is much better quality.)
1/4 cup cold water
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. organic cane sugar
2 cups organic, made from fresh fruit not concentrate, pure pineapple juice
1/8 tsp. sea salt
zest from 1 orange or 1 tsp. orange extract
coconut whipped cream made from 1 can of classic coconut milk (follow link above for recipe).
Soak the gelatin in the water in a cup and stir to dissolve. Set aside.
Combine the egg yolks, sugar, juice, and salt in a sauce pan. Use an immersion blender to blend (or a hand electric mixer). Stir constantly over low heat until it simmers but do not boil it–as soon as you see some steam start to rise from the mixture take it off the heat and add the dissolved gelatin. Stir very well. Add the orange extract or zest and stir again. Pour half of this mixture into a small pyrex baking dish that you just rinsed with cold water–pour all of the rinse water out but do not dry the dish as this wetness will help remove the dessert when you serve it. (Remember, you are making 4 servings so that your dish should be the right size for later dividing into 4 servings–you could use any glass container you have as long as it has a flat bottom.) Leave the remaining half of the mixture in the sauce pan.
Note: Your final product will have 2 layers–one plain and the other creamy with the whipped coconut cream folded into it. Cover and refrigerate both halves of the mixture. You want the half in the pyrex dish to set or gel plain while the other half in the pan needs to be combined with the whipped coconut cream later–as soon as it starts to gel. It may take an hour or two for the latter to start to gel so keep an eye on it. As soon as it thickens enough to mound a little on a spoon, remove the pan from the refrigerator and fold in all but 1/4 cup of the whipped coconut cream. Save the 1/4 cup of whipped coconut cream in the refrigerator to dollop on top of the final product later.
The other half of the mixture in the dish in the refrigerator is likely close to set. As soon as it jiggles like jello, remove from the fridge and spoon the creamy mixture on top and use a spatula to evenly spread it. Cover and return to the refrigerator so that the top layer gels more. It should be ready to serve in an hour or so. Right before serving, top each portion with the remaining whipped coconut cream and strawberries if desired.
