Celebrate the USA with these red white and blue stars & stripes desserts (1955 & 1972)

Categories: 1950s, 1970s, Vintage advertisements, Vintage dessert recipes, Vintage Fourth of July

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This whole dessert seems so very American. It starts with red Jello, and then the white layer is made from sour cream, marshmallow pieces and whipped cream. The star-shaped treat is then topped with blueberries — a fruit that is native to North America.

See a second recipe below, too, for a slightly different way to make a gelatin star for your favorite patriotic holiday!

Stars & stripes desserts: Gelatin and marshmallows make a festive & patriotic treat

Kraft marshmallows make stars & stripes dessert forever delicious

Red white and blue stars & stripes dessert (1972)

Yield: 6

Ingredients

2 packages strawberry-flavored gelatin
1 10 oz. package frozen strawberries, thawed
1/2 cup sour cream
1-1/2 cups miniature marshmallows (or 15 regular-size marshmallows)
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 cup blueberries, or your favorite fresh or drained canned fruit
1 regular marshmallow (for star)

Instructions

Dissolve gelatin in 2 cups boiling water; chill until thickened.
Mix in thawed strawberries. Pour into a 5-cup star mold. Mixture will fill mold about halfway. Chill until set.
Combine sour cream and marshmallows. Mix well. Fold in whipped cream.
Unmold gelatin. Frost top with marshmallow mixture; cover with blueberries.
To make the marshmallow star: For star, dip scissors in water, cut across flat side of a marshmallow to form petals; arrange 5 petals on top of dessert to form the star.

Stars & stripes desserts: A red, white & blueberry star recipe from 1955

By Cecily Brownstone

Patriotic colors for the July 4 party dessert! It’s a red-white-and-blue star, cool and refreshing, big enough to serve a flock of guests.

Strawberries, cream cheese, blueberries and flavored gelatin are the main ingredients of this sweet offering. If you haven’t a two- quart star-shaped container in which to mold the dessert, don’t worry; use a saucepan for a mold and outline a star on top.

We suggest an aluminum saucepan rather than a glass casserole for the molding, because the large dessert will slip out of the aluminum container better than it will out of the heavy glass baking dish.

Sometimes it runs

Don’t worry either if the red strawberry layer of the dessert runs a bit into the cream cheese layer; that sometimes happens in the best of test kitchens. A gentle brush-off with a clean damp cloth will help clear away the displaced color.

Note the recipe directions that tell you to chill one layer until almost firm, and heed them. If you pour one layer of gelatin onto an entirely firm layer, you won’t have good cohesion!

Attractive dish

This red-white-and-blueberry star dessert will look pretty on an Independence Day buffet supper table.

Red, white and blueberry dessert (1955)

Yield: 16

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

A patriotic dessert with blueberry gelatin, a lemon-pineapple-cream cheese middle layer, and a blueberry layer on top.

Ingredients

1 package strawberry gelatin
3-1/3 cups very hot water
one 10-ounce package quick-frozen strawberries
2 packages lemon gelatin
1 cup canned pineapple juice
One 8 ounce package cream cheese
1/2 cup cold water
3 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 cups cultivated blueberries
2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Dissolve strawberry gelatin in 1-1/3 cups of very hot water. Add frozen strawberries; stir and break up with a fork until thawed.
Pour into a 2-quart star mold. Chill until almost firm.
Dissolve 1 package lemon gelatin in 1 cup of the very hot water. Add 1 cup pineapple juice.
Cut three-quarters of the cream cheese into small pieces and add to lemon gelatin mixture. Beat with rotary beater until smooth.
Chill until slightly thickened, then pour carefully over strawberry layer in mold. Chill until almost firm.
Dissolve remaining package of lemon gelatin in the 1 cup remaining hot water. Add 1/2 cup cold water and the sugar, stir until sugar dissolves. Chill until slightly thickened.
Reserve 5 whole blueberries. Crush remaining blueberries and fold into slightly thickened lemon gelatin. Then pour carefully over cream cheese layer. Chill until firm.
At serving time, unmold. Mix remaining quarter (about 2 ounces) of cream cheese with milk; using pastry tube, outline top of star with cream cheese. Garnish star points with reserved whole blueberries.
Turn out and outline a star on top with the softened cream cheese, and garnish with whole blueberries.