Desserts/ Recipes

B is for: Blood Orange Mimosa Jello Shots

Remember when you were younger, playing youth sports like
soccer or tee-ball, and one of the moms would bring a bunch of orange wedges
for halftime or after the game? Well, fast forward about 20 years or so. I now
find myself playing on an adult kickball league (yes, I said kickball), and
instead of orange wedges, I bring orange peel jello shots. Hey, we’re all still
kids at heart, right? 

Making jello shots in fruit peels is nothing new on e is for
eat. I made Lemon Meringue and Arnold Palmer jello shots in lemon peels. I made
Ruby Red Greyhound jello shots in grapefruit peels. I’ve also made orange
creamsicle jello shots in orange peels on my own before, but I wanted to step
it up a notch for the blog. As you might have noticed, I’m sort of obsessed
with blood oranges at the moment. (The citrus salsa, the blood orange mojitos and margaritas in Arizona). And if you’ve read the blog from the beginning, you
know that I’m also partial to champagne. Enter the blood orange mimosa jello
shots!

As with the other fruit peel shots, you need to make a “cup”
to hold the jello while it sets. To do this, cut the orange in half and
carefully remove the fruit portion using a paring knife, grapefruit knife, or
just your fingers. I discovered about halfway through that it’s better to cut
the orange with the navel on the cut line instead of on the bottom. The reason
for this is sometimes the navel has a tendency to make a little hole in your
cup, which pretty much renders them useless. With them on the side, it won’t
matter. (For some reason, the fruit came out easier as well).

I wanted to use this precious blood orange juice for the
base of my shots, so I squeezed out as much juice as I could from the removed
sections. With 5 oranges, this only produced about a half cup of juice so I had
to add regular orange juice to make it equal a cup. (Next time, I would buy
extra oranges so I could use all blood orange juice).
Strain the juice to remove any pulp or seeds and place in a
small saucepan. Sprinkle with 2 packets of Knox unflavored gelatin and a
tablespoon of sugar and let soak in for a minute or two. Heat on medium until
everything is dissolved.

For the champagne, I thought the little cans of Sophia work
great because you don’t have to open a whole bottle when you only need about ¾
of a cup. To equal 1 cup of liquid, I added Grand Marnier to enhance the orange
flavor even more (about 3 or 4 tablespoons. )
*Note: If you aren’t using the Sophia cans, just measure
about ¾ cup of champagne and ¼ cup of Grand Marnier. 

Place hollowed out orange halves into a muffin tin to help
keep them secure in the fridge. Stir champagne mixture into the gelatin mixture
and pour into orange halves. (Also, as some readers have noted in the comments section, slightly flat champagne works best, or you can wait until the bubbles subside before pouring into oranges.) Allow to set at least 4 hours or overnight
(preferred).

Once jello has set, you can slice them into wedges. Perfect
for brunch or kickball! J




Blood Orange Mimosa Jello Shots

by Jaymee Sire
Keywords: jello shot cocktail dessert breakfast gluten-free orange champagne grand marnier

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Ingredients (24 shots)
  • 5-10 blood oranges
  • 1 cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice
  • 1.5 to 2 packets unflavored Knox gelatin (depending on how firm you want your shot to be)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 3/4 cup champagne
  • 1/4 cup Grand Marnier
Instructions
  1. Slice oranges in half and carefully remove the fruit portion to make orange peel “cups.” You will need approximately 10 halves (5 oranges) to hold all of the jello.
  2. Juice enough of the fruit to yield 1 cup of blood orange juice. (You will probably need approximately 10 oranges to get enough juice. If you don’t have enough, you can simply add in some regular store-bought orange juice.)
  3. Strain juice to remove solids and place in a small saucepan. Sprinkle with gelatin and sugar and allow gelatin to soak for a minute or two. Heat over medium, stirring until the sugar and gelatin are both dissolved.
  4. Stir in champagne and Grand Marnier and pour into orange halves that have been secured in a muffin tin. Allow to set several hours or overnight. Slice into wedges and serve!
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  • Kelly
    April 11, 2012 at 5:46 pm

    Such a fun idea! I can't wait to try!

  • Jason
    April 26, 2012 at 4:15 am

    Awesome! I will try it this weekend.

  • jaymeesire
    May 2, 2012 at 6:50 am

    Let me know when you guys try and how they turned out!

  • Carol White
    May 6, 2012 at 10:44 am

    This is great Jaymee !
    Thanks for sharing this recipe.

  • Judgy McJudgerton
    July 30, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    That looks amazing, will definitely try this summer!

  • Nad
    December 20, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    I just made these, and they came out wonderful! They are just adorable. A note on the quantity that the jello makes according to this recipe- I added all the liquid as directed above- and it did not fill 10 orange halves. It filled around 5 and I had to make another batch. I also added edible glitter into the liquid to give it a unique touch. They are very shimmery and pretty! Thanks for the recipe!

    • jaymeesire
      December 28, 2012 at 11:50 pm

      Thanks Nad! I was using blood oranges, so mine were a lot smaller. Maybe that's why? But thanks for the input. 🙂

  • Anonymous
    December 31, 2012 at 6:17 pm

    The champagne decarbonated rather spectacularly when I added it to the hot mixture (duh!), leaving a large foamy head to deal with. Next time I'll try cooling the gelatine mixture to something like room temperature before adding the champagne.

    • Anonymous
      January 2, 2013 at 7:02 am

      in my experience, best to let the champagne go flat first. either let sit out overnight, or pour back and forth between cups until no more carbonation.

    • jaymeesire
      January 2, 2013 at 7:07 am

      Thanks for the feedback…I updated in the post.

  • Anonymous
    April 18, 2013 at 11:01 pm

    Wow, this is a cool recipe! I am going to try to make this for a work gathering so I cannot use alcohol. Does anyone know of a good substitution for Grand Marnier? I am thinking of using Sparkling Grape juice for the Champagne. Thanks =)

  • Top rated Janitorial Services Bellevue website
    September 1, 2015 at 6:31 am

    Oh that looks so delicious. I want to try that right away. My kids will surely enjoy them.

  • Ben Bradley
    January 15, 2017 at 4:47 am

    I've worked in the bar/nightlife industry for almost 15 years now and haven't heard of such a thing! Trying it tonight!