Homemade Gummy Bears – Only 3 Ingredients
This homemade gummy bear recipe is quick and easy to make. Best of all, you only need three simple ingredients!
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Who doesn’t love gummy bears? Now, you can make your own gummies with this simple gummy bears copycat recipe. I like to make these gummies with my favorite fruit juices, such as apple juice and cranberry juice. I enjoy snacking on these sweet treats during the week.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Just three simple ingredients, that’s it!
- Sweet little gummy candies that are great for snacking
- Uses REAL fruit juice
- Easy and simple to make! Make these with your kids
- No artificial flavoring and no artificial flavors
Just A Few Simple Ingredients
These easy ingredients are probably already in your kitchen pantry. If you need to go shopping, you won’t have a difficult time finding these at your local grocery store.
- Fruit Juice: Gives flavor!
- Honey: Adds sweetness
- Unflavored Gelatin: Adds structure. Responsible for turning the fruit juice and honey into a gummy texture.
- Optional Sugar: Adding sugar really depends on how sweet you want the gummy bears to be. I personally don’t add sugar since I find the honey to be sweet enough. However, others enjoy the sweetness that the sugar adds. It’s up to you!
Overview: How To Make Homemade Gummies
It only takes a few simple steps to make your own homemade gummy bears
Heat The Fruit Juice and Honey
First thing, we need to heat the fruit juice and honey together.
If you are adding extra granulated sugar (which is optional), this is the step to add it to.
Heat the mixture on medium heat on a hot stove. Cook and stir until it simmers. Then turn off the oven and let it sit for five minutes.
Make Gelatine Mixture
In a small bowl, mix the gelatine with a small amount of room temperature fruit juice or water. Then, stir in the warm fruit juice and honey. The gelatin should dissolve completely.
Pour Gummy Bear Mixture Into Molds
Use a spoon or an eye-dropper to pour the liquid gummy mixture into the molds.
I used gummy bear molds. However, no need to stick with those! Feel free to use any gummy mold, such as gummy worm molds, heart molds, or even animal-shaped silicone molds.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Then, pop the gummy candies out of the molds and enjoy!
Try Different Flavors of Gummies
You can use different fruit juices to make different gummy flavors. Use different flavors of fruit juice, such as apple juice, lemon juice, orange juice, cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, and even grape juice!
You can even mix different fruit juices together to get different flavor combinations. The world is your oyster!
However, there are some juices to avoid.
Do not use pineapple, kiwi, mango, or guava juice, as their natural enzymes can prevent the gelatin from setting. If the gelatin does not set, then you will not end up with gummy candy.
Should You Use Food Coloring and Artificial Flavors?
Food coloring would give bright colors that aren’t achievable with fruit juice. For instance, if you would like the gummy bears to be bright blue, you would need to use blue food dye. (Unless there is a bright blue fruit juice that I am unaware of).
Artificial flavoring can help in making gummies where there is no juice. For instance, there is no such thing as banana fruit juice but you can make banana flavored gummies with banana flavoring.
It is up to you whether or not you want to use these ingredients. Some people want to use only real fruit juice, while others are okay with artificial flavoring.
Since you are making your own gummy bears at home, I say you make them the way that you want to make them!
How To Store Gummy Bears
Place the gummy bears in an airtight container and store them in the refrigerator. They are good for up to one week.
Even though you can store the homemade gummy bears in the fridge, you cannot store them in the freezer. Due do the gelatin, the gummy bears texture will be affected if they are frozen.
I do not recommend freezing the gummies as this changes their texture. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.
Do not worry, since these homemade gummy bear candies are so yummy, you will not need to store them for longer than one week since you will probably eat them all before then.
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Homemade Gummy Bears – 3 Ingredients
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Ingredients
- ⅓ Cup (82.67 g) Fruit Juice
- 2 Tbsp (42 g) Honey
- 2 ½ tsp (10 g) Gelatin unflavored
- 1 tbsp (15 g) water or fruit juice room temperature
- 2 tsp (8 g) Granulated Sugar optional
Instructions
- Simmer: Simmer the fruit juice, honey, and optional sugar in a small saucepan on medium heat. Make sure to stir occasionally. Once the liquid bubbles, remove it from the heat and let it cool for five to ten minutes.
- Gelatin Mixture: In a small bowl, mix Gelatin with room temperature fruit juice or water until the gelatin is fully dissolved. The mixture should be thick.
- Once the gelatin is dissolved, pour the slightly cooled-down juice mixture into the bowl of gelatin. Mix until the gelatin is dissolved.
- Fill the Bear Molds: Place the gummy bear molds on a small baking sheet or tray. Use an eye-dropper or a small spoon to fill the silicone molds with the liquid mixture.
- Refrigerate the filled gummy bear molds for at least 30 minutes. Then, pop the gummies out of the molds and enjoy!
Notes
- Check out my blog to watch the helpful recipe video.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Gummy Bear Molds
- How to store: Place the gummy bears in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to one week. Do NOT freeze!
- Different Gummy Flavors: You can use different fruit juice to create other flavors. Popular flavors include apple juice, orange juice, cranberry juice, grape juice, watermelon juice and lemon juice.
- Avoid pineapple, kiwi, mango, and guava juice. They have an enzyme that can prevent the gelatin from setting properly.
- Honey and Sugar: You can adjust the amount of honey depending on how sweet you would like the gummies to be. You can also add sugar.
- Honey Substitutions: You can use maple syrup or corn syrup instead of honey.
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