White Wine Sangria Jelly Shots

White Wine Sangria Jelly Shot, a most amusing amuse-bouche ...

While I am working through some kitchen mishaps testing issues with the next Favorite End of Summer Cocktail submission, I thought I would nominate one of my very own favorites, White Wine Sangria.  Sangria itself is the simplest thing - a bottle of wine, fruit, juice, vodka, a liqueur and something sparkle-y for the top - but it always feels lavish ,even slightly decadent- just like a lazy end of summer afternoon.  Maybe its all the lovely drunken fruit?


I wanted to keep that same indulgent feeling, erring on the side of light and fresh in order to serve these White Wine Sangria Jelly Shot with brunch or a late lunch.  The jelly shots were prepared in a flexible silicon pyramid mold, with three tiny pieces of fruit placed in each mold cavity before setting.  (They would look just as nice set  in a pan and cut into cubes - my main goal was keeping the amount of fruit per jelly shot perfectly uniform - yeah, I'm like that.)  Each pyramid-shaped jelly shot was placed in an appetizer spoon, amuse-bouche style, with lots of finely chopped fruit along side.  (You really don't need a ton of fruit - only tiny segments/slices of everything, even the grapes - less than a tablespoon of chopped fruit is used to garnish each jelly shot.)  In keeping with the easy-going spirit of sangria, use whatever fruit and juice you have on hand - I used orange juice with chopped apples, oranges, red and green grapes, and raspberries.

Recipe follows.  (Note: If you are using a mold, up the gelatin by 1/2 envelope - a slightly firmer jelly shot will be easier to remove from the molds.)

White Wine Sangria Jelly Shots

Difficulty:  Easy

Recommended Pan:  1 lb loaf pan, approximately 8" x 4" (or flexible silicon molds)

Implements:  Muddler and a cocktail shaker

Ingredients

• 1 cup white wine (use what you have on hand, chardonnay, sav blanc, pino grigio, etc.)
• Chopped fruit, to fill cocktail shaker 1/2 full (I used lemon, lime, orange, and white and red grapes)
• 1/8 cup water
• 1/8 cup frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed)
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup club soda (or lemon lime soda, sparkling lemonade, etc)
• 2 1/2 envelopes Knox gelatin (1/2 envelope = about 1 tsp gelatin powder)
• 1/4 cup Cointreau
• 1/4 cup vodka
• Additional fruit for internal and external garnish, if desired

 Fill the cocktail shaker 1/2 full of chopped fruit, and muddle vigorously (set remaining fruit aside for garnish).  Add the wine to the cocktail shaker (note: no ice is needed), shake for a minute or so and set aside.  Pour water, lemonade concentrate, juice and soda into a small saucepan and sprinkle with the gelatin. Allow the gelatin to soak for a minute or two. Heat over very low heat until gelatin is dissolved, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.  Strain the wine mixture (you should have about 1 1/4 cups of liquid), and stir into gelatin mixture along with the Cointreau and vodka. Pour mixture into loaf pan or molds. If desired, now is the time to add finely chopped fruit to the pan or molds.  Place in refrigerator to set (several hours or overnight).

To serve, cut into desired shapes or unmold.  If desired, garnish each shot with finely chopped fruit. 

Makes 24 to 32 jelly shots.

Cheers,  Michelle