This is a festive take on the Frog in the Pond classic. Santa in a Pond is a HIT with kids at Christmastime. My kids absolutely love it, and you can make them ahead of time to serve as a dessert, or to take a long to a festive gathering. You can make it a day or two ahead if needed, which can take the pressure off last minute preparations. In Brisbane, it’s so hot at Christmas, so this cool dessert is a hit. Serve just as it is, or you can add a squirt of cream, a scoop of ice-cream or a cherry on top to serve.
I grew up enjoying frog in a pond, and I did a little bit of research about the history of the dessert in Australia. I couldn’t find anything concrete. However, when I was hunting though some old magazines, I found a Home Hint from Readers section in the 25 March 1970 Australian Woman’s Weekly (p. 37). Mrs P. wrote in to share her new discovery of a “frog in a pond” dessert. She said:
Santa in a Pond
This recipe makes 8, however it would be easy to use smaller containers and make 12-16 serves. I did my jelly in red/green layers (which is a little more time intensive but looks effective), however you can just do individual colours if preferred, red or green is ideal.
What you need
- Plastic Wine Glasses (alternatively, use glasses from home)
- 2 x red Jelly (I used Woolworths Select Strawberry Jelly Crystals)
- 2 x green jelly crystals (I used Woolworths Select Lime Jelly Crystals)
- Cadbury Santa or Elf chocolates. I also found Cadbury Christmas tree chocolate block at Woolies which you can break into little trees to use).
Instructions
- If you’re layering your jelly, do one packet of jelly at a time. Make the jelly according to the packet instructions and pour into the cups. Allow to set for a few hours in-between the layers.
2. Repeat the process until you have four layers of jelly.
3. When you do the last layer of jelly, when it is just setting, slip in your chocolate santa.
These are the Cadbury Chocolate trees.
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