Broken Glass Dessert: A Recipe for an Old Family Favorite

One of the classic desserts my mum used to make was broken glass. I loved it as a child, and still do. Over the years, mum and I experimented with different variations on this old favorite to serve for different occasions where we were entertaining friends and family. It was always served at festive gatherings and as a birthday party treat for the kids. Broken glass is a very inexpensive and quick dessert to make, and leaves very little cleanup afterwards. I am sure you will love this and have fun making it with your kids, just as we all did.

You will need to help the children with the stove top part of the preparation when making the jellies.

-Take 6 packets of your favorite jelly crystal flavors and prepare as per the directions on the packet.

-Sit these into the fridge to set as normal.

-Taking 1/2 pint of thickened cream ,add sufficient sugar and 6 drops of vanilla essence to whip.

-Take your set cooled jelly from the fridge, and combine all 6 flavors roughly into a large glass bowl, or other dish you will be serving directly from at the table.

-Using a sharp knife, slash the jelly in a criss cross fashion, leaving a mess of 1-2 inch chunks.

-Using a wooden spoon, slowly tip the whipped cream into the bowl of jelly and mix through. Be sure you don't mash your jelly, it needs to remain chunky.

-Sprinkle with multi colored cake decorating candies and serve with extra cream or ice cream on the side.

*Also looks great served in parfait glasses.

Lemon Glass:

Using only lemon jelly, repeat the process as above, but add 1/2 tsp of citric acid to the whipped cream.

-Serve with a slice of lemon and fresh pineapple chunks for that extra zing!

Peppermint Glass:

Using lime jelly, repeat the above process, but add crushed peppermints to the whipped cream.

-Garnish with grated chocolate to present to the table for serving with chocolate ice cream and a flavored liqueur chocolate on the side.

Your flavored liqueur chocolates can be purchased for $1 per gift box at your large supermarket or Family Dollar Store.

Pumpkin Pie Broken Glass:

Using orange jelly only, add 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice to your whipped cream.

A generous pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg each will do a similar job if unavailable.

-Serve with butterscotch or rich vanilla ice cream and a light splash of caramel syrup.

Hot Raspberry Glass:

Prepare as usual, only this time add crushed red hot candies to the whipped cream.

- Serve with pink ice cream and a cherry on top!

Watermelon Broken Glass:

As above, but use raspberry jelly as watermelon flavor is usually harder to find. Add crushed tropical flavored disc candies into the whipped cream. We generally use Jolly Ranchers - see below for further instruction.

-Serve to the table in a hollowed half watermelon shell and offer to your guests with a selection of fresh fruit.

Caution, Jolly Ranchers are very hard and will take some time to be crushed small enough to eat.
Please use the grinder function of your blender for this process to avoid a choking hazard.

Hosting A Dinner Party?

An after dinner beverage to accompany your broken glass dessert can really make the whole night a roaring success.

For your adult guests, try one of the following.

-Red Hot Raspberry Glass is extra delicious when accompanied with a glass of sparkling red wine.

-Serve Lemon Glass with a crisp sparkling apple cider.

-Peppermint glass; serve with a large Kahlua cocktail of, Kahlua, hot chocolate and a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

-Watermelon glass, serve with a fresh fruit punch, spiked or not!