Pomegranate Rum Punch Jello

As I promised, I had some recipes to share that I made over the winter holidays.

But after further deliberation, I'm only going to share one, because the Red Wine Caramel Apples did not turn out as delicious as they looked.

So I'll go through the steps of making a yummy alcoholic jello that looks amazing in a martini glass. I received the recipe in my inbox a couple days before New Year's Day from Daily Candy. They call the recipe's concoction, "Punch Jelly."

Since jelly makes me think of stuff to put on bread, I decided to call it what it is: jello.

You can look at the original recipe here. And I've pretty much copy and pasted the steps here. I'll slide in my alterations in a happy color.

I started with a Pomegranate Rum Punch recipe. I didn't really look for a definitive recipe, but all you need is an ample amount of pomegranate juice, and your favorite rum. I used a spiced rum, as you can see.

For every pint of the punch the original recipe makes, omit 1 cup of water or nonalcoholic liquid, then assemble the punch base as directed, increasing sugar to taste (this helps the jelly set).

I wanted to put ginger ale in the original rum recipe, so I omitted 2 cups of this.

Bring however many cups of water or liquid you’ve omitted to a boil. For every cup, you need one ¼-ounce packet of gelatin.

Okay, so now I'm boiling the liquid and setting aside two packets of gelatin.

4. Bloom each packet in 2 ounces of cold water; add hot liquid; stir to activate.

I had no idea what blooming was. Apparently, I just pour the gelatin into the water (4 oz. for me), and then wait for a while. That was easy enough. Next, after taking the boiling hot sweetness off the stove, I added the bloomed gelatin and water, and stirred.

5. Add gelatin mixture to the punch base.

Here, I'm mixing the hot sweetness and gelatin with the pomegranate and rum mixture. Stir well!

6. Pour into a Jell-O mold and refrigerate.

At first, I poured the jello mixture into a glass bowl, but there was still some left over, so I decided to pour the rest in some martini glasses. The original punch recipe calls for lime juice. Since it was recommended to not add citrus juice to the jello, I garnished the glasses with lime.

The jello turned out slightly too sweet for my tastes. And too sweet for my parents, so I think it might be too sweet for most! I suggest using only water for the non-alcoholic liquid you boil. Or just being aware of how sweet your jello may turn out to be.

This recipe is perfect for house parties. More classy than the dixie cup jello shots. But still fun and a bit less serious than a martini with an olive. And there's nothing wrong with having both at the party.