Christmas Layered Jell-o Salad

 Christmas Layered Jell-O Salad

• 1 can crushed pineapple, NOT drained
• 6 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup Hellman’s mayo
• 1 large box lime jello
• 1 small box lemon jello
• 1 large box cherry jello
• 2 cups cool whip
• 1/2 bag mini marshmallows

1- Dissolve lime jello in 2 cups boiling water. Pour into bottom of glass 9”x13” dish and put in the fridge until cooled and fully set

2- Heat pineapple in a large sauce pan with a little water, add marshmallows and cream cheese. Cook on low heat until melted through, be careful not to burn the marshmallows

3- Once marshmallows are melted and ingredients are mixed, take off heat and add mayo. Let mixture cool

4- Mix lemon jello and one cup boiling water, let cool slightly. 

5- Once lemon jello is slightly cooled, add to pineapple mixture

6- Add cool whip to pineapple mixture

7- Pour pineapple mixture over fully set lime jello; chill for a least 4 hours (overnight if possible)

8- Mix cherry jello with 2 cups boiling water and pour into dish over pineapple mixture

9- Let cool until fully set. Final dish should look like a red, white, and green ribbon

This recipe is another one of my grandma Sue’s. As the name suggests, she always made it for Christmas dinner. I must confess, I did not like this when I was a kid, but as I got older it grew on me. It definitely feels like a post WWII recipe from a magazine, but it holds a special place in our family and pretty much everyone looked forward to it every year. 

I think this is a great recipe to bring to holiday dinners, simply for the fact that it’s easy and it’s pretty. I think it’s pretty foolproof, but let’s get into it. You do have to start this a day or two in advance. I started the lime Jell-O layer Sunday night, let it sit overnight in the fridge. Then Monday morning I made the middle layer, and topped the cherry layer off on Tuesday morning. By Christmas Eve it was fully set and ready for dinner. We have always had this on Christmas Day at my grandma’s house, but this was my first year of not having her for the holidays, so we had dinner at my parents house on Christmas Eve. Christmas time was truly my grandma and grandpa’s favorite time of the year. They loved to decorate and celebrate; they loved having family over. Being able to make her holiday recipes (and wear her beautiful Christmas sweaters!) make me feel like a part of her is still here, carrying on to celebrate with us. 

As per usual, I forgot to take pictures. Here is a cropped picture of the lime layer, which should be good enough because all your doing is mixing the box of lime Jell-O into two cups of hot water, pouring it into a glass dish, and popping it in the fridge to set. I realize I don’t know who is reading this, but unless you’re 2 years old (and if that’s the case, tell your parents to get you in Mensa) I trust you can make Jell-O. 

The next layer is surprisingly easy. The recipe only calls for 6oz of cream cheese, so I cut my block into cubes and measured it on my kitchen scale. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, cut your block of cream cheese into 4 equal pieces, and only use 3 of them. I heated the cream cheese, canned pineapple (not drained), and marshmallows in a sauce pan on the stove. I added about a tablespoon of water and stirred until the cream cheese and marshmallows were melted. 

I had a realization while I was in this stage of cooking. This melting marshmallow/pineapple/cream cheese mixtures smelled exactly like my grandma’s kitchen at Christmas. The smell was so nostalgic for me. I guess I never knew that this is what I was always smelling at her house. It smells incredible, and it brought so much joy to me to be able to have an almost tangible memory of Christmas at her house. 

It was a little difficult to tell when the marshmallows were fully melted because the pineapple chunks and nearly melted marshmallows were about the same size. If you have a few pieces of marshmallow left in it, it will be fine. I then removed the pan from the stove and added in the 1 cup of Hellman’s mayonnaise. I don’t really know why it called for brand specific mayo, but that’s what my grandma bought, so it’s what I bought for this. (Side note: we’re not big mayo eaters in our house, but this jar I bought specifically for this recipe ended up being just enough for me to make this, deviled eggs, and my husbands favorite cheese ball. None of it went to waste because it didn’t even last a week. Hooray, holiday cooking!) 

After the Hellman’s mayonnaise was mixed in, I set the bowl aside and made the lemon Jell-O with one cup of water. I did not use boiling water, I used hot tap water (fun fact I learned while making the hard tack, our faucet water comes out at 150°F, which apparently is more than enough to dissolve the Jell-O- and also my skin). Then I poured it into the marshmallow mixture and stirred. 

By this point I was fully questioning how all of this was going to fit into the dish. It was too late to stop, so I added the Cool Whip anyways. I thought this might be hard to combine, but it pretty much just dissolved and mixed seamlessly into the marshmallow mixture. 

I realized I was right after I started pouring; there was no way this was going to fit into this glass dish. I ended up measuring my glass dish (just for you! Yes, you!). Mine is 2”x8”x12”, which is NOT big enough. I asked my aunt, who has made this before, what on God’s green earth (my exact words) grandma did to fit all of this in the pan. She said that my grandma had a very large casserole dish she used for this, which I am gathering may have been an 11”x15”. I ended up with so much left over of the middle layer, so I poured it into a 4.75 cup glass Tupperware dish. If we’re being transparent, the middle layer is the best and you can keep any extras for a little midnight snack. Please see the amount of extra filling in the bowl below.

This glass dish was actually given to me by my nan (my maternal grandma). She was getting rid of it and I weaseled my way into taking it home because I did not have a glass dish. If this holiday season has made me realize anything, it’s that in 2025 I will be buying some new bakeware. The peanut butter blossoms made me realize I don’t have enough cooling racks. The Jell-O salad made me realize I need a bigger glass dish. And the next recipe… well you’ll see, I had to buy a whole new pan. 

After the middle layer set in the fridge overnight, I simply prepared the cherry layer as instructed and carefully poured it over. It did look sort of cloudy, but after the cherry layer set, it looked perfect. And here she is, in all of her delicious layered glory, ready for Christmas!

And if you were curious, here is a picture of my grandmas sweater. This is a terrible picture of me, so I apologize in advance, but focus on the sweater, people!!! If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope your holidays were filled with good food and great family.