This Jelly Slice is a classic Australian slice recipe made with biscuits or cookies, a creamy filling and jelly on top! I added fresh strawberries to lend it a fresher flavour. This jelly slice recipe is so simple and requires no baking at all!
I have my friend Nic again to thank for this Australian jelly slice recipe. A couple of years ago she gave me all of her mum's slice recipes and I've been slowly making my way through them happily scoffing slices. The classic jelly slice is simple: a biscuit or cookie base, a creamy layer in the centre that tastes like cheesecake and a jelly layer on top! So simple but such a family favourite!
The Three Layers in a Jelly Slice
The base: the base is made using plain biscuits or cookies like digestive or Graham crackers. I add melted butter and a bit of raw sugar for texture (my little cheesecake crust trick ;) ).
The filling: while it doesn't contain cream cheese it has a cheesecake vibe thanks to the gelatine that sets it and the lemon juice that thickens it and the vanilla. If you don't want to use lemon juice, increase the gelatine powder to 3 teaspoons instead of 2 and add two teaspoons of vanilla.
The topping: While the strawberries look like they're added at the same time as the jelly topping, I actually added them on top of the creamy filling before it sets so that they "clung" to the filling. If you add them at the same time as the jelly top then the strawberries will float in the jelly which looks amusing and funny but not if you want it to look good. Also I actually loathe flavoured jelly packets probably because my father worked as a food scientist at a gelatine manufacturer while we were growing up so dessert was always jelly. If you want to make this using real juice and gelatine I've given a recipe for that which I think tastes better but is a few more steps because you make the strawberry juice and strain it and then make a jelly out of it. You do you and whatever you have time for :)
As I'm not a huge jelly lover I preferred this with my home made strawberry jelly and strawberries although a classic jelly slice doesn't contain any fresh strawberry. I think the fresh strawberries lend it a Japanese cheesecake sort of feel which I really like. However I know strawberries, like so much produce, are expensive at the moment.
I learned something new about fruit the other day. Valentina and I were driving to a cafe for lunch and I had stopped at a traffic light. I looked over her shoulder and saw a man parked in his car eating a kiwifruit like it was an apple, skin and all. "I've never eaten a kiwifruit like that before," I say pointing it out to Valentina.
"Me neither," she says and just at the point where we are still watching him intently he looked over at us. Valentina pointed at his kiwifruit and gave it the thumbs up and mouthed, "Is it good?"
We both wound down our windows and he explained that he was once told that all of the nutrients were in the skin so he eats it like this now. It makes sense-I try to never peel fruit or vegetables very much for the same reason.
"I have two here, hang on I'll give them to you to try," he said and then got out of his car and handed us two kiwifruit. We thanked him for the unexpected kindness and then the light turned green and we had to go. Waving goodbye we take a bite at the next light and it's actually not bad at all. What I thought would be too furry and dry isn't and the skin is so thin that it's basically like eating a fuzzy peach!
Valentina and I were so impressed by this that I had to put up a poll on my Instagram stories to see how many people ate their kiwifruit with the skin on vs off. On that poll around 22% of people ate kiwifruit skin and all while the remaining 78% ate it skinless. Some recommended trying the skin with golden kiwi fruit over green as the skin is less fuzzy. Then a friend of mine James said, "I once knew someone who used to eat the whole apple...She would sit in the work canteen and eat the whole thing. Core and seeds. Like even the sticker," he said before adding, "To be honest I do it quite a lot on pork buns unintentionally"!
Then a reader said that she had heard that the greens of strawberries were also edible! So when I had these strawberries I decided to give the greens a go. I don't know if it depends on the type of strawberry or perhaps they have to be very ripe but I found the greens sadly quite unappetising!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you eat kiwi fruit skin on or off? Have you ever tried strawberry greens? Do you like jelly slice?
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