Have you ever eaten a Jell-O shot?
The alcoholic rainbow confections are almost as ubiquitous at college parties as those notorious red plastic cups. And yet, due to turning vegetarian at age 14, I’ve never actually tried one.
Not that I mind… Jell-O is too sweet and not chocolatey enough for me anyway. So when I recently came across a recipe for chocolate jello shots (without gelatin) in the cookbook Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts by Fran Costigan, I was super excited to finally try them out.
I brought the homemade jello shots to a Friendsgiving party (basically Thanksgiving, but with friends instead of family). All of the same Thanksgiving foods are normally present at Friendsgiving: stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, chocolate jello shots… well, maybe the jello shots were a little out of place. But no one seemed to mind!
Chocolate Jello Shots
- scant 1 1/2 tbsp agar flakes (3g)
- 1 cup water (240g)
- 1/3 cup sugar of choice (60g)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder (25g)
- 1/4 cup vodka (I think water would work for an alcohol-free version, but I haven’t tried it) (60g)
In a small saucepan, stir together the water and agar flakes. Without turning on the heat, let sit 10-15 minutes. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower to a simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring very occasionally until the agar flakes are dissolved. Add all other ingredients except the vodka, and whisk to dissolve. Turn off the heat and add the vodka. Immediately pour into 9-10 shot glasses and refrigerate uncovered 20-30 minutes until gel has set. For best taste, be sure to use Dutch cocoa powder in this recipe. Please drink responsibly, and if you enjoy this recipe be sure to check out the book from which it was adapted: Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts by Fran Costigan.
Questions of the Day:
Have you ever tried a Jell-O shot? And have you ever attended a Friendsgiving?
Link of the Day:
Out of place or not, these look super yummy!
they look like little Darth Vaders 🙂
OMG I BOW AT YOUR FEET!!! I can not wait to make these, possibly tonight since I have everything. I have made what I call “Jewish Jello Shots” with a box of gel dessert/jello that I acquired from the Jewish nursing home I work at. It is not made with gelatin which is awesome since I had never had a gelatin jello shot. THANK YOU!!!
I had way too many jello shots in college. WAY too many. Mostly illegally (underage) 🙂 We made them in ice cube trays with double-strength jello, like “jello jigglers”, so you could pick them up and pop them in your mouth, or single-strength jello in those little plastic condiment cups, which you slurped down like an oyster. Love the concept of these, I’m looking forward to playing with the recipe as I no longer consume alcohol except in very small amounts as flavoring and I don’t care for the texture of agar-jelled stuff, but I’m not vegetarian – I use a grass-fed bovine gelatin (Great Lakes Kosher or Bernard Jensen, for any other non-vegetarians who don’t dig agar). I think coffee would work well as the liquid if you like a mocha flavor, and I love the idea of a splash of liqueur like Kahlua, Godiva, schnapps (peppermint, vanilla, cinnamon, Buttershots), Triple Sec, maybe Canton for that chocolate-covered-candied-ginger action. Never had a Friendsgiving, though we did occasionally “pick up strays” as someone did for me this year.
These look really good and I like how they are gelatin-free!
Wow I really like your website! And you have amazing recipes.
I have tried jello shots before – but who would of known – chocolate? Good one!
I plan to link to you often from my site. 🙂
You just combined my two favorite things…thank you :’)
Yum!!! Love the blog!!
In case you’re interested, kosher gelatins are very often seaweed based for religious reasons. (Some are fish based bur plenty are plant derived.) They’ve got plant-derived marshmallows too. Just saying!
If you want another tasty vegan option, try using a pudding mix base plus homemade Irish cream (Google it; you can make it with coconut milk) and chocolate vodka. Jell-o’s pudding mix doesn’t contain any gelatin.
I Love jello shots and these look like the perfect vegan alternative and with chocolate! Your recipe get me every time!!!