Jello Watermelons

I've been wanting to make jello like this for ages now.  In fact, I first bookmarked this awesome idea from Gourmet Mom on-the-go way back in 2009.  (just the fact that I bookmarked it instead of pinning it tells you it's been in my to-do files for awhile!).  Anyway, I finally had all the ingredients on hand and made some for the kids.  They loved it ~ and I thought they were pretty neat too.


Don't these look cool?

Here's how I did it...

1.  I got a small watermelon and a few boxes of cherry jello (the larger 6oz size).

NOTE: I just used three boxes of jello, but if you're making this for a crowd or you have a big watermelon, you'll need a lot more.

2.  Scoop out the watermelon until just the rind remains.  (Put that watermelon aside and use it later to make the Frozen Watermelon Lemonade ~ it's a great way to use the actual watermelon!)

3.  Prepare your jello liquid.  You'll basically be using the recipe for Jello jigglers, so use 1 1/4 cups boiling water for every 6oz package of Jello.  I was only able to fill one half of my small watermelon with my 3 boxes..  To figure out how many boxes you'll need, you can pour regular water into your watermelon shell to see how much it holds,  then divide by 1.25.  (So, for example, if your large watermelon holds 10 cups of water, divide 10 by 1.25 and you'll need 8 boxes of Jello).  See, you can tell your kids you really do need Math in real life!

I placed my watermelon shell in an empty bowl to hold it steady, then poured in the liquid.

4.  Refrigerate for several hours until the Jello sets.  The total time will depend on the size of your watermelon, my small one took about 4 hours.

5.  Slice just like you would a regular watermelon and serve!  I made these while my kids were at VBS and they were in awe when I sliced it and handed it to them.  They just couldn't figure out at first how I got the Jello to replace the watermelon.  I really liked that because it was like a Jello jiggler, you could totally hold it just like a slice of real watermelon and the Jello stayed in place.

NOTE:  The original post added mini chocolate chips when the jello was just barely set to look like watermelon seeds.  Since I'm not a big fan of the taste of fruit and chocolate together, I left it out.  However, if you like that flavor combination, just use a chopstick to push in the mini chocolate chips when the Jello mixture is soft set.

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