4th of July Firecracker Mini Desserts Your Guests Will Love!

Happy 4th of July! Check out these 4th of July Firecracker Mini Desserts Your Guests Will Love, too! Our 4th was pretty wet this year. It rained most of the day, but as it happened, there was a break in the rain allowing us to shoot off and enjoy some fireworks. Since the party had to be moved inside, the luminaries I made were used to decorate the food displays.

Red, white, and blue 4th of July dessert on MyHumbleHomeandGarden.com

These little Jell-O treats were so pretty and tempting! Lea of 'Lea's cooking' featured red, white, and blue Jell-O in small squarish glasses topped with raspberries.

I remembered having seen some of these topped with maraschino cherries in small shot glasses and thought these would be really cute in the 4-inch tall mini shooter glasses. The taller shot glasses resemble the shape of a firecracker better, right?

Blue Layer:

3 oz. box of berry blue Jell-O

1 cup of boiling water

1 cup of cold water

Mix the berry blue Jell-O in a glass measuring cup filled with one cup of boiling water. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave and add the cold water.

Pour 1 tablespoon of liquid into each glass and refrigerate until the gelatin is set. (This did not take long.)

*After spilling some of the liquid, I remembered this little stainless steel measuring cup, which has tablespoon and ounce measures and a great pour spout. It made it much easier to pour the liquid in the little glasses.

Also, I didn't want these to tip over in the fridge, so I placed them in this plastic celery keeper and it worked quite well.

White Layer:

3/4 cup Sour Cream

2 Tblsp. Sweetened Condensed Milk

5 oz. Heavy Whipping Cream

1 oz. Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

1 pkg. Knox Gelatin

Add the 1 oz. of cold milk to the gelatin, stir well, and allow to set for a minute. Microwave for 30 seconds. (Be sure the gelatin is in at least a 2 cup glass bowl or measuring cup! I did not and the gelatin boiled up and over the bowl.)

Measure the sour cream, sweetened condensed milk, the leftover whipping cream, and the vanilla into a bowl.

Then add 1 tablespoon of the whipping cream to the gelatin to cool it.

While beating with a mixer, pour the cooled gelatin slowly into the bowl of creams and milks.

Mix well and spoon on top of the blue layer that has jelled.

(Do this quickly. A teaspoon worked nicely for this!)

Refrigerate until the white layer is set.

Red Layer:

3 oz. box of Cherry Jell-O

3/4 cup of Boiling Water

Stemmed Maraschino Cherries

Using the speed-set method on the box, mix the cherry Jell-O in a glass measuring cup filled with 3/4 cup of boiling water. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave and add ice to 1/4 cup of cold water to make 1-1/4 cups.

Stir the gelatin allowing it to slightly thicken and remove any unmelted ice.

Pour to about 1/4" from the top of the glasses and top with a stemmed maraschino cherry. (I went back to the fridge after a few minutes to straighten any stems before the gelatin was completely set.)

This recipe made 12 of the tall desserts with some leftover, so 8 of the little shot glasses were made, too. (Wish we had more of the tall glasses!) To finish off the extra little shot glasses, I did have to make an extra box of cherry Jell-O, and as you can see in the picture, I used a Chinese takeout container lined with paper towels to corral them in the fridge.