Tuesday, January 25, 2011

DIY Fruit Snacks

Baby B might be a fruit snack.... or at least partially a fruit snack. He is totally obsessed with Welch's fruit snacks, I am sure he must be at this point partially made of fruit snack. He has been known to take many an adult by the finger and say "walk walk". Typically this walk ends up at the pantry and the next words are "fruit snack". Did I mention this happens at least 3 times a day! I have been buying these at Costco (daddy has been known to eat a few packs as well). So, I decided to take a closer look at what Baby B was ingesting multiple times a day. The first ingredient did not looks so bad. But the second ingredient is corn syrup followed by sugar, ick. And of course there is the Red, Yellow, and Blue dyes.

Okay, so I googled around, modified a few recipes and came up with this.

1/2 cup of 100% fruit Juice - I went with Cherry
2 packs of .75 of Knox Gelatin
and some molds - I found these adorable silicon Valentines Days ones at the Dollar Spot at Target.
So, pour your 1/2 of cup juice into a pot. The "sprinkle" the gelatin over it (I think they call this blooming, how fun). Let this rest for a few minutes and the put the pot on the stove on low heat. Mix around until the gelatin is dissolved, but do not boil. Carefully pour into the molds. Next, let them set-up in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Pop out of the mold. These came out of the silicon molds really easily.

Here is the finished product. The consistency is surprisingly good. The flavor is not as strong as the Welch's fruit snacks, probably because they use a concentrated flavor. I am thinking maybe I will try cranberry next time, hum?
The true test will be what Baby B thinks tomorrow....

2 comments:

  1. and??? what did he think??? :) ~nikki (i have twins who are just starting to really get into food - looking for healthy things to feed them! these look goooood! :))

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  2. Hi Nikki and thanks for the comment. He ate them, but did not love them. The texture was great, but they lacked a bit in flavor. If you make them I would go with a flavor stronger than cherry.

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