Sunny Whip: Electrical Appliances and Kids

My mom's electric mixer was avocado green. The cord unplugged from the mixer, and, once bent back against itself into a tidy bundle, it slipped into an old toilet paper tube which had been covered with little squares of tissue paper and white glue. I'm pretty sure my sister made that, not me, but I can remember every bump of it.

I loved that mixer, and everything associated with it. Do parents still let their small kids use electrical appliances in the kitchen?

Today's Amazing Magical Jell-o Desserts recipe is flagged with a ♥, so we know that at least in the 70s, this was thought of as a "preschoolers can do it, under supervision" recipe.

♥ Sunny Whip

THESE GO IN:
1 package (3 oz.) Jell-O brand orange flavor gelatin
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup cold orange juice

GET THESE READY
mixing bowl
1-cup liquid measure
mixing spoon
hand beater or electric mixer
rubber scraper
6 dessert glasses

HOW TO MAKE IT:

1. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add orange juice.
2. Chill until slightly thickened; then whip with hand beater or electric mixer until fluffy and thick, about double in volume.
3. Spoon into dessert glasses; chill.
4. Garnish with halved orange slices, decorated with cloves and maraschino cherries, if desired. Makes 4 cups or 6 servings.

It's never too early to start 'em garnishing, folks.

Though not specified, the rubber scraper is clearly for getting the whip into the dessert glasses.

Notice that there's only 1 3/4 cups of liquid going into this recipe -- 1/4 cup less than you'd expect for a 3-oz. package of Jell-O brand gelatin. Odds are this is just so that if it were to set it would set thicker ... and the thicker thickness gives more structure to the whip. More liquid, and it wouldn't stay as fluffy.

I'm not saying that you couldn't try. Or that you might not want to take out shot or two of water and replace it with, say, vodka or rum. Fluffy Jell-O shots sound delightfully strange.

At that point, though, you'd have to get rid of the ♥ -- we're all for the alcohol here, but not for the pre-school set.