Trying a New Recipe

I'm not an accomplished chef but I enjoy cooking now and then and so I like to keep an eye out (now there's an odd saying for you, if ever there was one) for new and interesting recipes that look fun, like they'll taste good, and aren't too exotic or difficult. Its the exotic part that turns me off to a lot of recipes - they call for ingredients that we don't normally have in our kitchen. I don't want to fill up our cupboards with stuff we used only once and don't anticipate ever using again.  Nor do I want a recipe that calls for complex or difficult steps.  Even separating egg yolks from the white is more than I want to do.  But the nice thing is there are still plenty of recipes out there fit those criteria and I'm willing to try.

So it was that I recently came across a recipe for Broken Glass Cake.  It was billed as a Christmas favorite but I don't see why you couldn't make it any old time.  It does, however, require some planning ahead.  I did have to make a run to the store to make sure I had all the ingredients.  They are all things we do frequently have in the house but not always all of them at the same time.  So, to make sure I had everything, I made a trip to the store and got a few things.

The recipe involves jello, which we like and usually have.  But I needed three different colors and that sometimes isn't what's in our cupboard.  So I made the jello the night before and let it set up over night.  And it was made with less than the full amount of water that regular jello calls for - it was the jello jigglers recipe.

So this morning, with the three jellos all set up and ready to go I got everything else out and set to work.  It wasn't long before I had a volunteer to help me out - that was fun.

She helped me crush the graham crackers.  This was "cake" we were making - my capable assistant kept asking when it was going into the oven.

 Soon as we had the graham cracker crust all mixed and ready she opened the oven, ready to pop the cake in to bake.  I had to explain a couple of times that this was a "no-bake" cake - something new and amazing.

 We beat the whipping cream forever, until it was ready.  Made me think of the old egg beater my Mom had, a hand crank kitchen tool. Rather akin to hand crank drill my Dad had. I am grateful for electric mixers - they make this part of the recipe so much easier.

 I had made up the three flavors of jello the night before but there was still an unflavored one to make this morning, with pineapple juice instead of water.  That was the first thing we did this morning so it was in the fridge setting up while we did the crust and beat the cream.  Then we gently and carefully folded it all together.  It became apparent at this stage where the name "broke glass" came from.

 When all the jello is all mixed together then it goes in the pan on top of a graham cracker crust bottom, with a "garnish" of graham cracker topping.  I had a hard time deciding if it looked right or not.  The original recipe had pictures but the way I save these recipes I find I don't end up with the pictures. Nevertheless, it still looked pretty inviting.

 And, of course, my able assistant had the wonderful job of helping with the clean up.  She was delighted that there were three pans left over that needed her attention.  What a wonderful helper she was!