A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine turned 8. This friend is the only person I know with a leap year birthday. So, she obviously isn’t actually 8, but when you only get one real birthday every 4 years, you have to make a big deal out of it.

To celebrate, another friend and I decided to plan a number of surprise events for her. When trying to figure out what kind of food and drink to do for the main party, I asked the birthday girl a number of general questions such as “What is your favorite food?” and “What is your favorite color?”. In answer to the latter, she said “Rainbow.”, which I think is an excellent answer. (I used to work with a woman who said her favorite color was “shiny”, which I’ve always liked.)

When she said “rainbow”, I knew I had a plan, because this lady also likes jello shots to a slightly excessive degree and I had recently seen something beautiful on Pinterest that would work just right. Rainbow Jello Shots.

I had pinned these a few weeks before and knew that this was just the occasion to make them. Sure, they were time consuming, but not very difficult. They turned out beautifully!

When I made mine, I used Black Cherry jello for the red layer instead of regular cherry. I probably would have got a better color spread with the brighter color, but they were still awesome.

I made mine in a 9×13 inch rectangular pan. I placed cherries 4×8 in the pan, giving me 32 perfect shots. And I’ll tell you this, these were serious. The added gelatin in the recipe makes it so that you can put a ridiculous amount of alcohol in this and have it still set hard.

And the best part was the cherry inside! The stems made it so that each one could be picked up, so you didn’t have to have jello on your hands and you didn’t have to buy a million little cups that would end up all over your house.

Now are rainbow jello shots a reasonable thing for adults to enjoy? Maybe, maybe not, but they are certainly perfect for an adult 8 year old’s party! Needless to say, when we walked out with the sheet pan of rainbow jello shots with a big lit candle in the middle in the shape of an 8, the look of joy on the birthday girl’s face was just priceless.

I just used plain Absolut vodka for this recipe, but flavored ones would probably be awesome as well. I also used a glass pan so that I could see the layers on the side and wiped it out with oil before started, as the instructions suggested. It all worked out just peachy.

My final tip is to take it seriously when it suggests to cut of the bottom of the cherries so they’ll stand upright. I thought about skipping this step because I thought it sounded stupid, but after trying a few out, just slicing of the very bottom makes a huge difference in the stability of the cherries and makes it super easy to keep them standing. So, don’t skip that step!

Rainbow Jello Shots
From: http://jelly-shot-test-kitchen.blogspot.com

Suggested pan: 9″ x 13″ cake pan, or molds
Yield: about 32-45 jelly shots
Garnish: Maraschino cherries, if desired

If flexible silicon molds are used, prepare the molds with a quick spray or wipe of vegetable oil, then wipe the molds clean with a clean paper towel. This will leave a slight residue to assist in unmolding, but will not affect the taste or appearance of your jello shots.

Red Layer
1 cup water
2 envelopes Knox gelatin
1 box 3 oz box cherry or strawberry gelatin dessert
1 cup flavored vodka (we recommend Hangar One, Buddha’s Hand citrus infused vodka, but your favorite will work just fine!)

Pour water in small saucepan, sprinkle with Knox gelatin. Allow to soak for a minute or two. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until gelatin is dissolved, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the gelatin dessert mix, stir until dissolved. Stir in the vodka. Pour into pan and refrigerate until fully set, about an hour.

Yellow Layer
1 cup water
2 envelopes Knox gelatin
1 box 3 oz box lemon gelatin dessert
1 cup flavored vodka (we recommend Hangar One, Buddha’s Hand citrus infused vodka, but your favorite will work just fine!)

Pour water in small saucepan, sprinkle with Knox gelatin. Allow to soak for a minute or two. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until gelatin is dissolved, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the gelatin dessert mix, stir until dissolved. Stir in the vodka. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature, then pour over the set red layer and refrigerate until fully set, about an hour.

(Note, if you are garnishing with maraschino cherries, add them immediately after the yellow layer is poured in. Cut the very bottoms off the cherries so they will stand upright.)

Blue Layer
1 cup water
2 envelopes Knox gelatin
1 box 3 oz box Berry Blue gelatin dessert
1 cup flavored vodka (we recommend Hangar One, Buddha’s Hand citrus infused vodka, but your favorite will work just fine!)

Pour water in small saucepan, sprinkle with Knox gelatin. Allow to soak for a minute or two. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until gelatin is dissolved, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the gelatin dessert mix, stir until dissolved. Stir in the vodka. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature, then pour over the set red and yellow layers and refrigerate until fully set, several hours or overnight. (Its ideal to let this chill overnight so the layers can fully bond.)

To serve, cut into desired shapes or unmold.

Enjoy!!