This 3-Ingredient Blueberry Dessert Is Straight Out of My Grandma’s Recipe Box

It’s one thing to throw together a simple, easy dessert with only three ingredients. It’s another thing entirely to be transported back to your childhood at first bite. When I found the recipe card for Lila’s Blueberry Mold in my late grandmother’s recipe box, I knew I wanted to make it again and share it here. It’s a dish that never fails to take me back decades.

The Lila in question was Lila Sachs, a good friend of my grandmother Rachel’s sister-in-law. My mother fondly remembers get-togethers at Bea’s house, where this Jell-O mold was often present. The recipe card notes the year 1950, so I imagine that’s when Bea must’ve passed the recipe on to my grandma Rachel, a year before my mom was born.

Jell-O molds were all the rage during my mother’s childhood. When we were talking about this recipe, she let me know that at her (very fancy catered) bat mitzvah luncheon, there was an impressive dessert buffet with not only a towering croquembouche, but also myriad Jell-O based desserts in different shapes and colors. I’m not sure if Lila’s Blueberry Mold was among them, but there’s a very good chance it was.

I have my own childhood memories of this recipe. My mom and I made it for at least a couple of family holiday occasions. Opening the cans of blueberries, deciding just how much of their syrupy canning liquid should go in, stirring everything together in stages so the berries wouldn’t all float to the bottom… it was such a fun dessert to put together with my mom. I do remember her fretting over whether it was too sweet, but my palate gave me no such reservations. The more blueberry syrup, the better.

The Secret Ingredient for a Better Jell-O Mold

There’s just something about these old fashioned Jell-O recipes. They’re beautiful in their own way, glossy and inviting, taking the shape of whatever ornate mold you’ve chosen to set them in. The texture of this one is gelled, yes, but also has a rich and tangy secret ingredient that cuts through the sweetness: sour cream.

My favorite sour cream to use for this recipe is Tillamook. It’s super rich and thick, with no gums or other thickeners to affect the texture of your Jell-O mold. Whatever brand of sour cream you choose, it’s really worth it to check the ingredients list—the shorter, the better. Stirred in with strawberry Jell-O and blueberries in light syrup, its yogurty tang keeps this dessert from veering into cloyingly sugary territory like some retro sweets.

A Note on Blueberries

Using canned blueberries in syrup (not blueberry pie filling!) in this recipe makes it super easy, but sometimes they can be hard to find at the grocery store. If you need to, you can swap in 2 cups of frozen blueberries instead. Skip step 1 and add the blueberries, 4 cups water, and 3/4 cup sugar to the saucepan in step 2. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then add the Jell-O off heat as directed.

How To Unmold a Gelatin Dessert

The only challenging part of this recipe (or any Jell-O mold recipe, really) is getting it to slide gracefully out of its mold and onto a serving dish. There’s definitely an art to it. I like to go slowly, dunking the mold repeatedly into warm water, a few seconds each time, until it easily releases from the mold. Resist the urge to shake your dessert out of its pan, as it’s more likely to break that way. It’ll come out in its own time.

More Recipe Box Favorites

• Crunchy Ramen Salad
• Grandma’s Corn Pudding
• Narsai’s Chutney Cheese Appetizer
• Retro Plum Jam Chicken