Sumptuous ice cream jello dessert that is a unique texture experience combining the airy lightness of strawberry mousse with the creamy thickness of homemade vanilla pudding.
My mother did not enjoy cooking much, but she did make several dishes that were out of this world fabulous.
One of our family’s favorites was this recipe for ice cream jello that we enjoyed on major holidays.
For Thanksgiving, she would use orange jello from the store and vanilla ice cream.
For Christmas and Easter, she used strawberry jello and vanilla ice cream instead.
My favorite was the strawberry jello ice cream combo, which I tweaked below into a healthy version that uses fresh (or frozen) berries and maple syrup instead of today’s supermarket jello with artificial colors and GMO white sugar.
My Mom tells me that she developed this recipe in the 1960s. I’ve never seen it anywhere else over the years.
It took me a few tries to get it to work with real fruit, a whole sweetener, plain gelatin, and healthy vanilla ice cream…but it was worth the wait!
My Mom was thrilled when I told her about the results!
There are literally no brands of jello on the market that are safe to use these days, so if you wish to try this recipe, please make it as instructed below for the healthiest results!
Ice cream jello is absolutely fabulous for school lunches! Just be sure to put a cool pack in there to keep it cold.
Ice Cream Jello Pudding
Easy and healthy dessert made by blending vanilla ice cream and natural fruit jello. A sumptuous and unique dessert experience.
Ingredients
- 1 pint vanilla ice cream
- 2 cups strawberries fresh or frozen
- 2 Tbl plain gelatin
- 2 Tbl maple syrup
- .5 cup boiling water
Instructions
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Place strawberries into food processor with maple syrup and blend until smooth.
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In a small glass bowl, dissolve gelatin thoroughly in half cup of boiling water.
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Emulsify the gelatin/water mixture by drizzling it in a thin stream into the top of the food processor **while the strawberries/maple syrup mixture is blending**. This quickly mixes the gelatin evenly throughout and prevents it from forming jello-like blobs in the cold strawberry mixture.
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Pour the smooth strawberry/maple syrup/gelatin mixture into a large glass bowl.
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Place pint of vanilla ice cream carefully into the middle of the bowl with the strawberry mixture.
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Gently stir ice cream in the strawberry mixture until completely melted and blended (see video below).
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Pour ice cream/strawberry mixture into dessert cups and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
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Serve as desired. The texture of the ice cream jello pudding is soft and creamy like mousse but thick like pudding. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
I just love pudding. I am gonna make it for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Loved the idea of it, but it didn’t work out for some reason. I love the kitchen & I’m always trying new recipes, especially yours! I used frozen strawberries in the food processor – that worked fine. First time using/preparing gelatin this way (for my daughter & I. It didn’t work in my first attempt, so my daughter stepped in to help w/the 2nd attempt, lol).
Would it be possible to film the step involving preparing the gelatin for this recipe?
Thx
Good idea! I will film it next time I make it. If you’ve never used plain gelatin before, perhaps try it with plain fruit juice first to get the hang of it. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-healthy-jello-dessert/
Sometimes a Vita-Mix just doesn’t do the job! It started bogging down right away with the frozen strawberries. I put just a bit of kefir in it to offer some liquid. That didn’t seem to be enough. So, I went ahead and sprinkled the 2T gelatin over the boiling water and taking it off the burner. It sat on top and didn’t dissolve. Got my whisk out, put it back on burner and was able to dissolve most of the blobs. Then I poured slowly into Vita-Mix with berries. That got it smooth. Can this be done with a Vita-Mix and what did I do wrong with the gelatin? My recipes usually call for sprinkling gelatin over room temp water where it almost dissolves and then putting it on some heat to completely dissolve. I really wanted this to work. Tastes good. Shall see if it gets jello-ie in 4 hours.
I used a Vita-Mix with no issues.
Really delicious recipe. I love it yummy!!! It’s really awesome. Will surely try this.