I came up with a brilliant idea recently. When I was carrying around a faux white russian -- watered down coffee & cream -- at a convention, it was too easy to get bumped into and spill it. I wanted to have one with me at ECCC this year (which has more people and hard to maneuver at times), so I thought how can I do that without spillage and without carrying a container for refills. Lo! While making jello shots recently I thought "why not do that?" I planned it out last week and tried a test run today, which turned out extremely well!
What's needed:
- 3 packets of Knox unflavored gelatin
- splash of coffee or black tea (extra strong)
- splash of milk, plus a few drops
- ice cube tray
- drink tumbler or short drinking glass (bucket glass, whiskey glass)
You'll need to do this is two separate batches, about 4+ hours apart. Start with the faux ice cubes. Heat up 1 cup of water. Mix one packet of gelatin in a bowl with the water. Add just a few drips of milk (it'll give it a slightly cloudy color). Don't use more than 5 drips, though. An eye dropper works best for this if you have one, otherwise just pour some milk in a cup and use a spoon to dip in and get just a little on it and add slowly. Pour into the ice cube tray (spray with Pam helps to get them out later!), filling one cube at a time to get full-sized cubes. Put in the fridge and let chill for at least 2 hours, preferably 4 - 6+. Makes about 8 - 10 cubes, depending on tray size.
Using a plastic knife or small rubber / silicone spatula, remove each ice cube one at a time and put in your drinking glass. Mine took 7-8 cubes to fill. Arrange them so they are at various angles on top of each other, much like ice would be when put in a glass. Stagger at least a couple on the top so they are at different heights. Put the glass of faux ice cubes in the refrigerator for now.
(you won't need a full 1 cup measurement for this next part, but you can do 3/4 if you want to be safe. mine only used about 1/3 cup of the 1 cup i made. it will also make the gelatin a bit thicker when using less water, which can be helpful for longevity!)
Heat up 1 cup water so it just starts to steam but not boil. Mix with 2 packets of gelatin in a bowl. Stir in the splash of coffee, black tea, or other dark brown liquid (p.s. do
NOT use soy sauce; i tried that once and it ends up smelling foul after a few hours). You want the color to look brown but still clear enough to see through (much like a cup of tea and not a cup of coffee). I used about 1/2 shot of Kahlua to get the right look, but next time I'll use coffee (cheaper to use!) and likely need about as much or more. Stir in a splash of milk. Start with maybe 1 teaspoon, but then add more as desired. You want it to look creamy but not diluting the brown color too much. Let the mix cool down a little bit for about 5+ minutes. You want it to be cool to the touch but not starting to gel; this will help to keep it from melting gelatin ice cubes. Pour over the glass of ice cubes and fill high enough so the top cubes look like they are floating. Leave some space (about 1/2 inch or so) at the top of the glass; don't fill to the rim. Put in the fridge and chill until ready to use; about 4+ hours.
I found that it helped to have another glass filled with ice and milk prepped as a visual reference. Hope that helps people for conventions and parties that won't have real Caucasians to drink.
