My little one is entirely obsessed with anything that is gummy. Hearts, bears, and bunnies - oh my! Lately, I've been buying some fancy all natural, gluten free, organic gummies to put in her lunch, because it makes me feel a bit better. But, oh-my-goodness those things are expensive! Especially when she's eating her weight in them every day.
Sort of defeats the health benefits I'm trying to get into her too!
So as I was sitting here pondering my gummy dilemma I happened to remember a while back I came across this great idea on how to make your own gummy fruit snacks. I was a little early since I've tried to do this a time or two before and could never seem to get them to come out right. But, I thought it was time to give the homemade snacks another try anyway.
And boy am I glad that I did!
These healthy little gummy bears turned out great! They were super easy to do and took very little time or attention. Plus, the options for flavors are pretty much endless. Pick a juice. Pick a fruit. Done!
With hindsight being 20/20, the one thing that I would have done differently (and this is mostly for my little girl's sake and not my own) would have been to strain out the seeds that were left behind from the fresh berries, before adding the gelatin in. But, that is really just a personal preference. I actually like the seeds in there, but she's going to be eating these far more often than I am.
Some of the best pre-made gummy snacks out there are about 70 calories in a serving, with 10 grams of sugar, and 18 grams of carbs - holy moly! Never mind the sodium, yikes!
Another good thing about these gummy snacks? They cost me all of maybe $5 for all of the ingredients I needed for three times the amount of snacks that you'll get pre-made from the store. And I even used a super expensive fruit juice! You could definitely use a cheaper juice to lower the cost even more.
I'm super excited to try out other flavors and even have the notion to make myself some 'adult' gummy snacks. Who says that mommy can't have some fun fruit snacks too? Hehe.
Healthy Mixed Berry Gummy Bears
TheSkinnyFork.com
The Skinny:
Servings: 15 • Size: 20 Gummy Bears • Calories: 23.9 • Fat: 0.1 g • Carb: 4.2 g • Fiber: 0.7 g • Protein: 2.5 g • Sugar: 1.7 g • Sodium: 5.1 mg
Ingredients:
1 C. Raw Fruit Juice (I used Naked 'Berry Blast')
2 C. Fresh Mixed Berries (Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries.)
1 Tsp. Natural Sweetener (Such as Truvia, Stevia, Etc.)
5 Tbsp. (5 Pkgs.) Unflavored Gelatin
Small 3/4" Cutter of Choice (I used a bear.)
Directions:
Place the juice and the fruit into a medium pot and cook it over medium for about 5 minutes or until the fruit is nice and softened, stirring constantly.
The fruit should be soft enough to easily be squished against the side of the pot with the back of a spoon.
Carefully transfer the fruit to a blender or food processor along with the sweetened and blend it up until smooth.
Allow the fruit mixture to cool for about 10 minutes before sprinkling the gelatin over the top of it. Leave the gelatin to sit for a minute to activate.
Blend up the fruit and gelatin until no clumps of gelatin remain visible.
Immediately pour the mixture onto a clean baking sheet.
I used a 15x10" sheet. The larger the sheet the thinner the bears will be; the smaller the sheet, the thicker the bears will be. I found this particular pan to be just about perfect.
Set the sheet into the fridge for an hour or until the mixture has cooled and firmed entirely.
I did find that I had to press the cutter in and then slide it a bit to pop the little gummy bears out.
Use a small 3/4" cutter to cut out your little fruit snacks.
I got my bear cutter from Amazon, but I've seen some similar ones at hobby stores too.
I ended up getting about 15 servings of 20 fruit snacks with my little cutter.
Divide and package your bears up for an easy grab-and-go snack!
