Lemon Gelatin Parfaits

The lemon gelatin might sound like nothing more than lemon-flavor Jell-O (and you can certainly use lemon Jell-O if you want to save a little money and a tiny bit of effort over juicing lemons or buying lemon juice), but in this case "authentic" is also "easy," and the real flavor of lemon is much nicer than the artificial flavor used in Jell-O and other brands.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3 3⁄4 cups cold water, divided
• 3 (1/4ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar, plus
• 3  tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 1⁄2 cups fresh lemon juice (from about 9 lemons)
• 1  teaspoon  grated lemon zest
•  yellow food coloring (optional)
• 3⁄4 cup heavy cream
• 1  sprig of fresh mint (to garnish) (optional)
•  lemon zest, curls (to garnish) (optional)
•  lemon slice (to garnish) (optional)

Directions

1. Put 1/2 cup of the water in a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over it and stir. Let soften for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine the remaining 3 1/4 cups of water, 1 1/2 cups of the sugar, the lemon juice and the lemon zest and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the softened gelatin, stirring for 1 minute or more to dissolve all lumps. Stir in a few drops of food coloring, if desired.
2. Pour into a heat-safe medium-size bowl, let cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (at least 6 hours).
3. Just before serving, whip the cream with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, until it holds stiff peaks.
4. Fill goblets or sundae glasses halfway with gelatin, top with half of the whipped cream, then fill with more gelatin and top with remaining whipped cream. Garnish with mint sprigs, lemon zest curls or slices and serve.