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I changed the name to “Cranberry Orange Gello Cups” on 12.6.16, but the recipe is the same.
I love rich desserts (if you doubt that statement, check out this Fudgy Mocha Frosting that’s great right off a spoon…). However, holiday meals can get a bit…um…heavy, so it’s nice to have a dessert option that you can still squeeze in after partaking in all the traditional goodies. These festive gelatin pudding cups fit the bill perfectly.
These gello cups are gelatin, but in a creamier sense. Not quite like the traditional Jello pudding, but I didn’t know what else to call it. It’s kind of like a Jello fruit salad, but not quite as fluffy as these blueberry cream cheese bars.
What’s the secret to the texture, you may ask? Well, that would be Chobani Blended Plain Greek Yogurt. It lends a creaminess to these cups without overloading the calories, plus it adds a great source of protein! Why did I decide to use Chobani?  Well, I was inspired by Chobani’s #MadeWithChobani Project to create a great recipe starring Chobani’s Greek Yogurt (I did not receive any compensation for coming up with said recipe, and all opinions are my own). I typically make homemade Greek yogurt (you can check out a video tutorial I did here), which has a less tangy/tart flavor than storebought yogurt; but I was pleasantly surprised that the Chobani yogurt had a nice mellow flavor similar to homemade.
Since I was going for a holiday recipe, I decided to do the traditional cranberry/orange pairing. My mom had just bought some fresh cranberries (the first fresh cranberries I had ever tasted, believe it or not), so…ta-dah! I had no oranges, however, which put a crimp in my plans. Until I remembered that we had some Orange Tangerine Zinger tea (Celestial Seasonings brand). Perfect. If you want to kick the orange flavor up a notch instead of just hinting at it with the tea, add some food-grade orange or tangerine essential oil or grated orange zest.
You can definitely tweak this recipe according to flavors that you prefer. Once I tried fresh cranberries, I found that I love their tartness, especially when paired with the orange tangerine tea (which lends some nice mellowing tones). However, I’m sure that if you don’t care for cranberries, raspberries or another berry would be a great substitute. You can play around with the tea flavors as well, although be aware that if you do this you may have to adjust the sweetness. One word of caution: these Jello cups contain Greek yogurt, and even though the yogurt brand I used is quite mild, these cups taste best when made with fruity flavors. I would not try chocolate, coffee, or eggnog flavors, especially not all together (I may or may not speak from experience, and that may or may not have been the grossest thing I’ve ever made…).
This recipe also makes a great breakfast for one person! Some fresh cranberries will add a perfect ((pop)) to the start of your day.
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- ¼ cup fresh cranberries, halved
- 2 T water
- 1 doonk (1/32 tsp.) THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- -
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tsp. unflavored gelatin (such as Knox brand - if using beef gelatin such as Great Lakes brand or THM Just Gelatin, add an extra ½ tsp.)
- 1 tea bag - Orange Tangerine Zinger flavor, by Celestial Seasonings
- 150 g (approx. ½ cup) Chobani Blended Plain Greek Yogurt (or another low-fat Greek yogurt with a very mild flavor, like homemade)
- ½ cup water
- 2 T vanilla whey protein powder
- Hearty pinch salt
- 3 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (to taste; a doonk is 1/32 tsp.)
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- A few drops of a food-grade orange or tangerine essential oil or grated orange zest for more orange flavor, optional
- Fat-free Reddi-Whip and chopped fresh cranberries for serving, optional
- Heat the halved cranberries, water, and sweetener in a ceramic bowl in the microwave for one minute (or until the water boils and the cranberries soften a bit). Set aside to cool down.
- Heat the unsweetened almond milk in a mug in the microwave until boiling. Quickly stir in the unflavored gelatin and add the tea bag. Let steep for 5-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a blender (I like to use our Ninja single-serve cup) add the Greek yogurt, water, protein powder, salt, sweetener, and vanilla. Once the tea bag has steeped in the almond milk for 5-10 minutes, squeeze the liquid out of the tea bag and discard it. Add the almond milk to the blender cup and blend until totally smooth. Pour into two decorative glasses/bowls. Divide the cooked cranberries and their syrup between the two glasses/bowls. Most of them will sink to the bottom. To distribute the cranberries more evenly, stir the pudding once or twice after it has gelled in the fridge for a bit and thickened up (do this before the tops gel over) *or* I'm sure you could wait to add the cranberries until the liquid has thickened a little in the fridge but isn't too firm. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until the pudding is firm. Serve with a squirt of FF Reddi-Whip and some chopped cranberries, if desired.
If you are going to be chilling this longer than two hours, cover it so the top doesn't dry out. You may wish to decrease the gelatin amount if you'll be chilling it longer. Using the full amount of gelatin and refrigerating overnight gives these pudding cups a very solid consistency.
Feel free to use other berries in place of the cranberries (if you use something like raspberries or blueberries you probably wouldn't need to cook them in a syrup first because they're not as hard as cranberries), and switch up the tea flavors. I recommend sticking with fruity flavors as this doesn't cause a conflict of tastes with the Greek yogurt. Adjust sweetener as necessary.
I changed the name to "Cranberry Orange Gello Cups" on 12.6.16, but the recipe is the same.
THM Sweetener Conversion Chart – use this chart to help you convert to a different sweetener, if desired.
Suggested Products:
- Chobani Blended Plain Greek Yogurt
- Ninja blender – we have this set and the single-serve cup is perfect for making this recipe
- Orange Tangerine Zinger Tea – not only is this tea flavor great in this recipe, but it’s also good to drink. Go figure.
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder is my sweetener of choice. It’s low-glycemic (meaning that it won’t spike your blood sugar), all natural, and has a very pleasant flavor. It’s only needed in very small amounts! You can purchase it from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
- Unflavored gelatin
- Whey Protein Powder
Hello
Is this in the Cookbook? I don’t like to print off recipes if they are already in the book.
I can not seem to find it if it is.
Thank you
No, this is one of the few recipes published before July 2016 that is not in the book. Sorry!
Since it’s set yogurt, I think you could call it a kind of panna cotta which is normally a set cream. I love looking through your blog, and I’ve got several of your recipes pinned to try soon. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Briana,
Would you believe it. After months of following your blog, I finally made my first recipe. This one! We enjoyed it this morning. 🙂 I’ve loved reading the tweaks above, because, like some of the others, I found the texture *amazing* but the flavour a little less than my preference. I think part of it was the absence of having the tea (I used a hibiscus orange blend instead which wasn’t the greatest) and I think the stevia was a little overpowering. SO looking forward to trying it again, though with the right tea, and xylitol subbed for some of the stevia. I think with those tweaks this is going to a be a dessert staple here. 🙂
i’ve made this twice since yesterday! i love this b/c there is so much you can do to make it custom to your tastes. i went to buy the tea since i don’t have orange extract. the didn’t have celestial tea so i bought lipton. good thing i brewed it and drank it before the recipe…don’t buy anything but celestial seasoning if you go the tea route. the lipton was more watered down with no orange flavor. now i haven’t tried the celestial orange tea but have had many of their other ones and the other ones if it says flavored you GET flavor lol. so i went for second best….real orange extract. here’s the thing about extracts…i think they are kinda gross except for vanilla and almond. and i have at least 10 different extracts i’ve experimented with. but i did the orange extract and this turned out ok. loved the texture but not the funky taste the orange extract left. could also be the stevia. but i would think with the celestial tea it would be a whole different and better taste. so… next day i decided to tweak it. and that’s what i just love about this—the ability to go crazy =) i used truvia. 1 tsp in place of each donk of stevia. and instead of orange i used….almond extract. i also blended it up with the cranberries in it. awesome pink color! and oh dear….i think i could live off of this. now if i find the celestial tea around i’m going to try that too as i love orange. but i thought i’d throw out there the variation i made…especially concerning the sugar sub. i think when many of us start this diet we get all caught up in what sugar to use and what does pearl and serene use. i say if you find a sweetener you like that is still on plan…truvia, swerve, THM sweet blend….go ahead and tinker with it. use what you like. this recipe will come out great with whatever sugar sub you use. love love LOVE this one!!! thanks briana!!!!
Thanks so much for trying it and sharing your tweaks, Becca! Sounds wonderful. I’m so glad to find someone else who isn’t afraid to experiment. 🙂
i’ve always loved to cook and bake. Even as a young kid i was always experimenting lol. it’s been a challenge with the baking aspect of THM. but i’m always up for a challenge. i read some of your recipes and think….oh why didn’t i think of that and if brianna can make that out of that then maybe i can make this by tweaking this. one day i hope to cook at your THM level.
I can’t wait to try this!!! I have lots of E meals planned this week and am looking for an E friendly sweet treat….I’ll add some fresh (peeled) mandarin oranges to the cranberry compote to put this more in the E category and use in place of the tea bag….love orange and cranberry together!!….sounds sooo yummy! Thanks!
I was wondering about adding some tangerine juice. I really like the idea of the whole mandarins. To give it more flavor could I squeeze a slice or two and add it to the ‘tea’ mixture maybe?
I don’t know if you’re on THM or not (most of my followers are), but if you are, fruit juice is not on-plan. However, you could puree some mandarins/tangerines and add the puree to the mixture for more flavor. 🙂 Keeping the fiber from the fruit helps prevent a blood sugar spike. This would then be an E.
This looks great. Trader Joe’s has freeze dried cranberries that would be fun to chop up for this. I also think a couple drops of pure Tangerine Essential Oil would be great to increase the tang. On my list of recipes to try. I sure enjoy your creativity with recipes. 🙂
Great ideas!