These cookies are so cute, fast and fun, and they would be a great end-of-summer treat for kids before they had to head back to school! This recipe originally ran in July 2012 and was part of our Glistening and Jiggly recipe contest. I dug this recipe out of the archives recently for a friend, so I thought it would be a good time to resurrect it for you guys as well!
Guess what? It’s time for cookies!
Fun, bright cookies made with a package of Jell-O. Yep, that’s right. Jell-O. It turns out that not all gelatin dishes are meant to be put into a mold.
This was sent into us by P’Gell, who also sent us an interesting looking recipe for a pie that I am still planning on making when I find some spare time. But these cookies just called to us. I mean, come on. Cookies made with gelatin??? We are totally in.
P’Gell writes:
This recipe was from an old pamphlet cookbook I found from sometime in the 1960s, I believe. I’ve made these so often they are committed to memory. They are great when you don’t have any eggs in the house and want to bake cookies now. Making several batches in different colors and flavors is best. These don’t wiggle or jiggle, but they are good and easy to make.
From, P’Gell
- For each batch of color:
- 1 (3oz) pkg. Jello.
- 1 Cup powdered sugar
- 1 Cup butter or margarine, melted
- 2 1/4 Cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Heat oven to 350.
- Reserve 1 TB dry gelatin for glaze if desired. Mix remaining gelatin, powdered sugar & butter. Stir in salt and flour.
- Shape into 1″ balls. Place about 2″ apart on cookie sheets lined with Silpat or parchment paper.
- Bake until set, but not brown. 8-10 min. (Don’t let them get brown, it ruins the pretty colors.) Remove from cookie sheet when slightly cool.
- Colorful Glaze: Mix reserved gelatin & 3 TB hot water. Let stand 5 min. Stir in 2 C powdered sugar & 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth. Dip top of cookies into glaze.
- Or simply skip the glaze (as these are pretty sweet) use left over Jello to sprinkle on warm cookies.
- You can make several batches in different colors. You can also make up two batches in different colors and fit two small balls from each together to made different colors and flavors in one cookie.
These were dead easy to mix up. The only issue I had was that my dough was fairly dry so I had to use some pressure to get them to stick together. But I think that might have been operator error, since I was trying to mutli-task while making these and may have left them mixing for a bit longer than I should have.
Also, when I was baking my cookies they took about 15 minutes to bake rather than 8, but that may have also been related to the dry dough issue. Or maybe I made them larger than they were supposed to be. Either way, I considered the cookies baked when the “ball” of dough had melted into a disk and had puffed slightly.
The glaze was easy to mix up and I just dipped the tops of my cookies straight in. The glaze sets up fast and I had to keep whisking mine to prevent it from forming a skin, so move quickly when glazing your cookies.
But even though they looked really cute, Tom was still suspicious.
“So, what’s the story with these?”
“Nothing, they are just cookies.”
“Uh-huh. And what’s in them?”
“Just cherry Jell-O.”
“And?”
“Butter.”
“And?”
“Sugar. Flour. You know, regular cookie things.”
“So, no cheese?”
“No, no cheese.”
“Pineapple?”
“No.”
“Fish?”
“No! Just cookie things! They are just cookies!”
“Well, okay then.”
“And nothing else is in them?”
“For God’s sake, no!”
“You know, these are pretty good. I mean, for just being cookies.”
“You’re impossible.”
The Verdict: Good!
Tasting notes:
Shortbread texture. Very sweet, but not in a bad way. Glaze was good. Strong fruit flavor.
Thanks for sending this our way, P’Gell! They were fast, easy and tasted good. Although these cookies are very sweet, they still had a distinct fruit flavor. Tom ate the whole batch in about 36 hours even while I was stuffing him full of other gelatin dishes, so he liked them. I wish I would have had more time to try other flavors/colors to see what they tasted like. But just so everyone knows, the cherry version is yummy!
Made these tonight for the family and friends. Thumbs up from the parents, 5 yr olds, and the 1 yr old. One thumbs down from the 7 yr old, “too sweet.” I ended up making my portions a little too large, 1.5″, and they took 20 minutes. I pulled them after, as described above, the flattened a bit and puffed. I waited till they showed small cracks in the tops. I also found that if you apply a dollop of icing while the cookies are still just a bit warm, the icing will melt pretty evenly over the tops.