Fourth of July Creamy Dessert Salad Parfaits

For the dessert salad:

Note: The water, marshmallows, cream cheese, crushed pineapple, and whipping cream will be divided between the two types of gelatin.

Divide the cream cheese in half (two 4-ounce portions). Cut each half into smaller pieces. This will make it easier to blend into the gelatin. Set each portion of the cream aside separately.

Pour 1 3/4 cup water into each of two saucepans (one pan for the blue gelatin and one for the red gelatin. Each pot gets 1 3/4 cup water.). Bring water to a boil. Then lower heat to low. Stir the blue gelatin powder into one pot of water until dissolved. Repeat with the red gelatin putting it into the other pot of water.

Add half of the cream cheese into the blue gelatin; stir to incorporate cream cheese. If necessary, press the cream cheese against the side of the pot to help break it up. There will probably be some small slivers of cream cheese that will not completely blend with the gelatin. This is not a problem. Repeat with the red gelatin.

Add 1/2 of the bag of marshmallows to the red gelatin and the other half of the bag to the blue gelatin. Stir until melted.

Add another 1 3/4 cup COLD water to each pot of gelatin mixture. Stir until everything is combined.

Pour the gelatin mixtures into two separate bowls, cover and refrigerate until set.

When set, remove the bowls from the fridge. With a hand mixer, beat each bowl of gelatin until well-aerated and fluffy. Set aside.

Fold half of the drained, crushed pineapple into each bowl of gelatin mixture.

Clean your mixer beaters. Add the whipping cream and sugar into a clean bowl. Whip until soft peaks form.

Add one cup of whipped cream to each of the bowls of gelatin and fold it into the gelatin. Set the remaining whipped cream aside for topping.

In parfait glasses or 9-10 ounce clear plastic cups layer: blue gelatin, raspberries and blueberries, red gelatin and whipped cream. I used three raspberries and put them touching the outside of the glass so that they could be well seen, then sprinkled blueberries to fill in the spaces. Garnish as desired.

For the fruit and marshmallow skewers (for garnish):

Select a star cookie cutter that will fit the size of the rectangular marshmallows. The size of the marshmallow can be slightly increased by gently pressing on it. Don’t press too hard because the marshmallow will begin to break down. Don’t we all.

Working with one marshmallow at a time, use the cookie cutter to cut out a marshmallow star. Repeat with 11 more marshmallows for a total of 12 stars.

On each of the 12 skewers load the following in order listed: 1 blueberry, 1 raspberry, 1 blueberry, 1 star marshmallow.

With a small, flat paintbrush or with your finger, paint a thin coat of water onto both sides of the marshmallow star. Working over a dinner plate, sprinkle the dampened marshmallow on both sides with the red sanding sugar.

Garnish parfaits with prepared skewers.

Recipe adapted by Terri at that’s some good cookin’, original recipe by Melinda R.