Healthy Snacks

homemade chewy fruit snacks recipe

epidemiology lesson — kind of ::::

Little did I know my epidemiology training would be useful as a mother. The hypotheses:

Alternate hypothesis: Children exhibit a higher rate of whining when bored and hungry rather than when having fun and well-fed.

Null hypothesis: Children do not exhibit a higher rate of whining when bored and hungry rather than when having fun and well-fed.

Sub-hypothesis also includes the length of time of whining seems longer (“time sense”) to a parent than the child doing the given whining, whereas it often paradoxically shrinks time sense to anyone under the age of 10, bimodal peak at ages 3 and 6. At least in this house.

silicone candy molds are perfect for making fancy shapes

The sustenance component is an important consideration for us. Food in our family means an inordinate number of snacks throughout the day, especially for Grub. Our Grub, now age 3, is our jokester, eating most every meal like he hasn’t eaten for days. I found that keeping up with the snack factor decreases whining throughout the day. One of our favorite snacks is fruit “chewies,” named by the kids. Since we often go through a store-bought box quickly, I thought about making my own when we were inundated with fresh fruit. I discovered a similar recipe for these homemade fruit snacks, when Grub was immersed in bowls of ripe apricots and strawberries. Fresh is best, but thawed frozen fruit is fine, which works well for cooler climes not able to produce fresh fruit.

No matter what fruit you use, you will easily see a decrease in whining time. My time sense of a calmer household has also increased. No need for statistically significant p values. This is purely anecdotal research.

One year ago: za’atar spiced beet dip with goat cheese and marinated manchego

Two years ago: campanelle with, pork, pine nuts, and mint and handkase mit musik

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
homemade chewy fruit snacks recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: healthy snacks
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 1¼ cups fresh or thawed frozen fruit puree (I've used blueberries, apricots, and strawberries each with good success)
  • ⅛ to ¼ cup lemon juice (I vary the amount depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
  • 2-4 tablespoons of honey (depending on how much sweetness you want and how sweet your fruit already is)
  • ¼ cup of powdered gelatin (I used Knox brand)*
Instructions
  1. Put fruit puree and lemon juice into small saucepan and cook to just bubbling. Slowly whisk in gelatin, little by little, to avoid clumps.
  2. When your mixture is mixed well, pour into silicone candy molds or into a parchment-lined 8x8-inch baking dish.
  3. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or allow to sit at room temperature overnight. (Popping the snacks out of the molds works better if refrigerated first.) If using a pan, cut into 1 cm cubes to serve. Store in an air tight container at room temperature or in the fridge.
  4. My molds (see in photo above) yielded 45 snacks exactly for each fruit used.
Notes
* ¼ cup is NOT a typo. That seems like a lot of gelatin but it's what you need to create the right consistency for the fruit snacks. Agar agar also works for a vegan version, though I haven't experimented enough to know how much to use.

 

    9 COMMENTS

  • Jim January 25, 2014 Reply

    Check gelatin..1/4 cup in recipe, 1/2 cup in notes???

    • story January 26, 2014 Reply

      1/4 cup is correct. Thanks for the eye — typo now fixed!

  • James Tudor November 2, 2015 Reply

    thanks for the recipe awesome sauce!!!

  • Hannah October 10, 2016 Reply

    Do you think this would work if I made it with baby food. I have so much left over that my kids won’t eat but they live fruit snacks

    • story October 11, 2016 Reply

      I bet that would work. Good way to use up baby food!

  • Elizabeth August 7, 2017 Reply

    Does this recipe produce a more chewy/gummy product, like store bought fruit snacks? I have been experimenting with different recipes and have yet to get the perfect consistency for fruit snacks. It either comes out too much like Jello or too mushy of a texture. Thanks!!!

    • story kitchen August 7, 2017 Reply

      Definitely not mushy. Not chewy like gummi bears, but more like a really, REALLY firm Jello. I bet these snacks would bounce if you tried it.

    • Kami April 2, 2019 Reply

      I’m also keen to know if this recipe is actually chewy like shop-bought gummies as that’s the consistency i’m after.

      • story kitchen April 2, 2019 Reply

        They’re really not chewy, almost chewy-crunchy.

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