Homemade Fruit Snacks

 

My kids (and I) love, love, love those little fruit chews you can buy at the store. As tasty as those are, they aren't really very cheap and they have virtually no nutritional value at all & are super loaded with sugars. I want to give my kids fun, great tasting snacks that are healthy also.

I stumbled across this recipe for homemade fruit snacks on one of my favorite blog site An Organic Wife.  Cristina has an awesome blog full of great recipes and tips on being more healthy, local, and organic in the kitchen. (I love her site and have pretty much read every article - check her out.)

We made them last night with strawberries we'd picked and frozen last spring...

Ingredients:
2 ½ c. strawberries (or other fresh or frozen-fresh fruit)
½ c. lemon juice
2 TBS. honey
½ c. gelatin

1. Put the berries and lemon juice in a saucepan and heat it on medium-low until the fruit starts to soften. 
   
2. Use an immersion blender to puree the fruit, or pour it all into a blender. (RP: I used my hand mixer.) Then, set it aside to cool slightly for about 5 minutes. 
   
3. Stir in the honey and gelatin. Whisk in the gelatin a little at a time so it doesn't clump up. Whisk, whisk, whisk! (RP: Again, I used my electric hand mixer.) Once it is all incorporated, pour the liquid into silicone molds or a 9x13" baking dish, preferably lined with unbleached parchment paper. 
   
4. Put the molds or pan into the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours to let it set up. Remove and pop the fruit snacks out of the mold, or cut into squares if you used a baking dish. (RP: We did a taste test at about 35 minutes. The fruit snack popped out perfectly and tasted good. Maybe a tad rubbery?) 
   
5. Store the fruit snacks in a lidded container either at room temp or in the fridge, if you like them cold. 
   

Well I blundered this recipe and did not use enough berries. If you try this yourself, be sure to thaw and puree/slice your fruit THEN measure out your 2 1/2 cups. Follow the recipe exactly. Please comment below with your results when you try it!!