BARB’S MYSTERY DIP

DIFFICULTY

FEEDS

Easily overlooked, this sweet side-dish will be sorely missed once it’s gone

INGREDIENTS

Gelatin, enough for about 5 cups water

1 package vanilla wafers

Licorice tubes

Licorice strings

Edible silver food color spray

A handful of clear hard candy or rock candy

Blue, red, and orange food coloring

4 ounces white chocolate

DIRECTIONS

TO MAKE THE POOL AND DIVING BOARD

Prepare the gelatin with water as directed on the packet. Put it in the fridge to speed up cooling, but don’t let it set. Try not to think about Nancy and Jonathan. Once cooled, pour the gelatin liquid into your chosen bowl or cup and add blue food coloring until the desired shade is achieved.

Use a knife to cut the wafers into the shape of a diving board; you may need to stack 2 or 3 together to achieve the required strength. Be careful not to cut your hand. That would be a big mistake right now.

Melt 1 ounce of the white chocolate very gently over hot water. Using a knife, apply the chocolate to join the wafers together. Spray two strips of licorice with the edible silver food color spray and adhere them to the wafers with a bit more chocolate to form the rails. Use a small piece of licorice tube to form the underside of the diving board and seal the wafers to the rim of the gelatin bowl or cup. Hold in place until the chocolate cools and can support the diving board structure. (It’s important to chill, Barb!)

TO MAKE THE GLASSES

Add the orange food coloring to the remaining white chocolate, place in the piping bag, and pipe the glasses’ shape onto some nonstick baking paper.

Crush the clear hard candy to make flat shards. Use a toothpick to insert them into the frames of the glasses, before the chocolate cools.

FOR THE FINISHING TOUCHES

Finally, add just a touch of the red food coloring to the gelatin. Sit quietly and wait for the lights to go down.… It’s dinner time!