Minty Champagne Shooters

It is recipe swap time again. As you can see, it is Wednesday, not the usual day of the swap. We have divided our group in two. Half are still posting the first Sunday of the month, and the other half of us are posting on the second Wednesday of the month...so here we are! Christianna of Burwell General Store has given us an assignment of 'Orange Snowflake Salad' as pictured below.

While it does sound like a pretty interesting experiment, I just couldn't bring myself to buy Jell-O with the bright orange food coloring and cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is on the top of my 'unconsumed food list'. There are a few food items that give me twitches even thinking about, cottage cheese and any seafood are two of them. 

So this week I strapped on the thinking cap to figure out a plan. I knew from the start there is a partially consumed bottle of champagne in the fridge and wanted to somehow incorporate it into the recipe. Jell-O shots were a natural direction to take. But how would I get around the artificially flavored and colored Jell-O? 

A little research proved very educational. I could simply buy unflavored gelatin and use fruit juice to sweeten the shots. A clear-ish juice would be ideal. So maintaining the pineapple component of the recipe, pineapple juice and pineapple chunks would appear. There needed to be a refreshing aspect as well. Mint would do.

So I gathered all the necessary suspects at the grocery and trekked home with a full backpack. And what a trip down memory lane this recipe provoked. The powdery scent of warm liquid stirred into gelatin brought back childhood memories. I was immediately transported to the kitchen table, helping my mom stir the hot water into the bright green Jell-O. Jell-O was such a fun treat as a kid. Watching the liquid turn into a gel was magical. The worse part about it was waiting for it to set. I remember wondering how I would get through the hour(s) it took to set. Barbies, Scooby Doo, bike-riding, and mini trampoline jumping were mild distractions. Somehow I got through. Speaking of which, I need to go check on the flutes...a taste test is probably in order.

Minty Champagne Shooters

Makes 4 champagne flutes

You can take creative liberties regarding the fruit juice and alcohol flavors. Mangoes and mango juice  with fresh basil would be quite nice. Or berries and mint would be refreshing. Whatever you choose will make you happy as you scoop it from the glass.

1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup cold champagne (or sparkling wine)
2 envelopes Knox Unflavored Gelatin
1 tablespoon honey
4 tablespoons pineapple chunks (canned or fresh)
10 mint leaves, finely minced

Heat pineapple juice in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until boiling. Take off heat. Pour cold champagne into a medium bowl. Stir gelatin into champagne and let sit for 1 minute. Pour hot pineapple juice over champagne mixture. Stir in honey. Continuously stir until gelatin is dissolved, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle mint leaves into champagne mixture. Pour into 4 champagne flutes. Stir 1 tablespoon pineapple chunks into each flute. Refrigerate until solid, 1 to 2 hours.