GFCF/ Soy-free/ SCD/GAPS/Low oxalate

Gelatin Hearts are finger gelatin that you can pick up and eat with your fingers.  It is two layers of gelatin with a strawberry heart in the middle.

Read instructions and get ingredients for everything ready.  Start with the White Gelatin.

For gelatin, use a good quality gelatin from pasture-raised cows.  If you are using gelatin packets, please note they are often 2 teaspoons rather than1 tablespoon so you will want to measure the amount.

Delicious with no added sweetener.  Use honey or no sweetener for SCD/GAPS.

White Gelatin Layer– Coconut Gelatin

Ingredients

• 1 cup Water
• 1 cup coconut milk or cream
• 2 Tablespoons gelatin (use grass-fed type such as Bernard Jenson’s), plus 1 teaspoon additional if you want them thicker.
• 1 Tablespoon honey or sweetener of your choice
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Put 1/2 cold water in a 1-quart bowl

Sprinkle gelatin on water and let it dissolve.

Add 1/2 cup of boiling water – pour slowly, let sit, then stir well.

Add coconut milk, honey and vanilla.

Pour into bottom of flat-bottom pan 9 x 13 inches or two smaller pans (no greasing needed), and place in refrigerator to set.

Cut strawberries while white layer sets.  Wash, destem, and cut strawberries in half.  Cut a small V into the top of the strawberry to accentuate the heart shape if needed.  Once white layer is set, place strawberry on top.  The sticks in the photo are simply a guide for me to keep them lined up (do whatever is easiest for you).

Make Fruit Gelatin next.  See assembly instructions for how to complete the layers.

Fruit Finger Gelatin

For the juice for this recipe, any type will work, fresh squeeze or bottled. A clear (not cloudy) juice is best in order to see the strawberry heart.  Some good pink juices are homemade watermelon or strawberry juice).  The juice used in the photo is black cherry.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of water
• 3 Tablespoons gelatin (plus one teaspoon if you want them on the firmer side)
• 2 cups juice

Directions

Put 1/2 cold water in a 1-quart bowl

Sprinkle  gelatin on water and let it dissolve.

Boil 1/2 cup of water, add 1 cup of fruit juice and heat until just about boiling – pour on top of gelatin slowly, let sit, then stir well.  Add the second 1 cup of fruit juice and stir.

The sweetness of the gelatin depends on the juice.  If your juice is more on the sour side, you may want to add a bit of sweetener of your choice – 1 Tablespoon should do the trick.  If it’s a sweeter juice but it tastes too “watered down,” reduce the amount of boiling water and replace it with more fruit juice (that you heat along with the water).

Assembly

Pour on fruit gelatin covering about 1/3-1/2 of the strawberry.  Let set in refrigerator 20 minutes.  Note: if you pour it all at once, the strawberries will float and it will not work.

Keep the extra liquid gelatin on the counter so it does not set. After about 20-30 pour remaining gelatin to cover strawberries.

Place gelatin in the refrigerator to complete the gelling process.

When set, slice and serve.

Recipe Adaptations

In most recipes, including this one, you can often swap certain ingredients for similar and possibly even more beneficial or specifically tailored helpful ingredients. For example, if the person you were giving the above treats had a bit of a cough or cold, you could use elderberry syrup or even resveratrol juice, or veggie juice to add in extra antioxidants and immune support.

To reduce the sugar from the juice, you can use less sweet or not sweet juice like cranberry and add stevia.

For the water, you could swap that with coconut water, to give additional electrolytes and some coconut flavor.

You could ADD hydrolyzed collagen powder to the recipe, to get even more peptides which are easy to digest, but you still need to use gelatin to get the jello type of result (or it won’t gel).

Coconut milk is a great ingredient as it’s is rich and creamy and contains good fats and is helpful especially for those with an issue with dairy, but any nut milk could be used.

For the next celebration, show your family, loved ones, and clients how much you care. Share treats that provide beneficial nutrients that boost to our cells as well as aid repair, growth and our immune systems, which is a whole additional gift in itself!