The Magister has a fondness for gelatinizing things. He has at least one cookbook all about encasing things in gelatin. In May, I even got him a mini gelatin salad all his own!

I unironically love the creative things people were doing with gelatin and aspic and jellied things, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. Ever since I made the Magister his own cookbook and got him his own gelatin salad, I wished that I could make my own mini gelatins.

MGA has been issuing an extremely popular line of Make It Mini miniature food craft kits that include little bottles of resin, little ingredients in little packaging, and little utensils. From previous sets, I have amassed at least 20 mini bottles of resin [meant to serve as cream cheese, soda, maple syrup, hot sauce, etc.], many cut fruits [including bananas, strawberries, and pineapple], and some vegetables and spices. I have been saving them to make veggie salads, fruit salads, desserts, and, of course, gelatin fudz. When MGA released Blue Razz Jelly, a mini reusable silicone mold for a blue raspberry gelatin dessert containing raspberries, I ordered my own small silicone molds, suitable for chocolates, as well as Blue Razz Jelly. I organized all my bottles of resin and all my inclusions [things to put in the resin] and waited eagerly for my vacation, when I planned to make many gelatin salads.

I started off on December 19th with one of the chocolate silicone molds. Unlike the MGA Make It Mini silicone mold, the chocolate molds are…well…chocolate-colored and opaque, which makes curing the resin a challenge. MGA uses UV-activated resin in the Make It Mini fudz, and anything that blocks the penetration of UV light, such as the opaque silicone of the chocolate molds, inhibits the resin setting. Putting in too many inclusions can also complicate the curing, as I discovered when my first experiment came out uncured on top because too many mini marshmallows blocked the UV rays. My first result did not look sophisticated and exciting at all, but it did look like a remarkably realistic culinary experiment performed by dorklets who cared more about stuffing it full of sweet ingredients and less about making something aesthetically pleasing.

Anyway, after that, I went on a gingerbread house decorating kick, making Little Night and Little Day’s gingerbread architecture. I returned to mini molded gelatin the day after Xmas, experimenting with much thinner layers and more judicious use of inclusions.

On December 28, I started to experiment. I added toppings [e.g., to the yellow one] and fillings [e.g., to the tricolor one] to some previous gelatins. I even figured out how to make an erupting volcano! The spew of lava was made from coating the core of a Bundt mold and the bottom with a thin layer of resin and then removing it. The result looks like a fountain of magma!

I also worked on some Make It Mini cakes. My remaining Make It Mini gingerbread house came out very fruity! With the Bundt cake, I was trying to make another volcanic eruption with raspberries as lava flow, but I’m not sure I succeeded. With the checkerboard cake, I was just experimenting with blue sprinkles and clear glass beads meant to represent bubbles. I brought out the bubble beads by mistake, thinking that they were a cake decoration. They were actually intended to create a bubbling effect in a cauldron or a drink or something, but I like the watery effect they made on the cake.

Today I really got into a groove and cranked out a lot of gelatins! I started with desserts in the lefthand photo. At the top is molded chocolate mousse with chocolate chips. Then, going clockwise, there is molded mint chocolate cookie mousse, inside out pumpkin pie, and chocolate pudding. I created the cookie crumbles in the mint chocolate cookie mousse by including freshly ground real pepper in the resin.

Then I decided to try savory salads in the righthand photo. The one on the top left is made of 1) yellow “mango smoothie” resin with green peppers, 2) white “cream cheese” resin with real cilantro, 3) clear resin containing chives and sliced pickles, topped with 4) more green peppers. The one on the top right is made of 1) clear resin containing chives and mustard seeds, 2) white “vanilla glaze” resin mixed with real cilantro, 3) white “cream cheese” resin, topped with 4) chives and mustard seeds. The one on the lower left is made of 1) clear resin with green peppers, 2) yellow “cheese” resin, topped with 3) yellow “mango smoothie” resin. The one on the lower right is made of 1) clear resin mixed with real cilantro, 2) clear resin with pineapple chunks, 3) white “cream cheese” resin mixed with real cilantro, topped with 4) pineapple chunks. I would happily eat all of the sweet gelatins, but the savory ones make me suspicious.

Here’s a picture of how the mini gelatins look when held by their proud chef, the Toon Magister! Lizzie is clearly thinking, There’s no way I’m eating anything that’s the color of my hair!