One of the reasons that Jello is on the list of the best desserts for the 4th of July is not only that it is very popular, perhaps simply due to tradition, but that it is pretty. It comes in bright, clear reds and blues and, for a holiday that is color-heavy, the lure of their look is hard to resist. I should know. I was lured by the look of the Patriotic Jello Pie, despite the fact that I haven't eaten blue jello or Cool Whip in years.

The jello website has a video tutorial for making the pie, so I watched it, went to the store to pick up the necessary ingredients, and set to work on the pie.

First of all, I just want to complain that my store doesn't carry 4-ounce sizes of Jello. This is a problem because the vvast majority of the Jello recipes call for 4-oz. packages. I used my kitchen scale to measure out the appropriate amount from the larger packages. But, other than that, everything went smoothly. The jello set up more-or-less like the Kraft website promised it would and the pie certainly looked jewel-like in its crust.

When it came time to serve the pie (to myself, as I wasn't about to give it to anyone else), I had a hard time getting it out of the pie tin, which I attribute to the shoddy store-bought graham cracker crust. It smelled like blue Jello. And blue Jello neither smells nor tastes good. The red layer, strawberry, was passable and the Cool Whip tasted rather marshmallowy, but I couldn't really take the blue layer. Ah well. At least it looked pretty, if not exactly like the Kraft version.

Would I make it again? Not with blue Jello, but I would consider it if an occasion that warranted Jello arose.

Patriotic Jello Pie
(recipe from Kraft)

1-1/2 cups boiling water, divided
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Berry Blue Gelatin
1 cup ice cubes, divided
1 graham cracker crust (8/9-in)
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Strawberry Gelatin (or any red flavor)
1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Topping

Stir 3/4 cup of boiling water into dry blue gelatin until completely dissolved (2 minutes). Add 1/2 cup of the ice cubes and stir until ice is completely melted. Jello will probably thicken slightly. Pour into pie crust; refrigerate 5 to 10 minutes or until gelatin is set.
Meanwhile, stir remaining 3/4 cup boiling water into dry red gelatin til completely dissolved (2 minutes). Add remaining 1/2 cup ice cubes and stir until ice is completely melted. Let stand at room temperature until blue jello is set (10 minutes).
Spread Cool Whip evenly over blue gelatin layer in crust. Gently cover Cool Whip with red gelatin. Refrigerate 2 hours or until set.
Store leftover pie in refrigerator.

Note: You can certainly use the sugar-free versions of the jello flavors used in this recipe and low-fat Cool Whip to make a lighter dessert.