This jelly candy recipe is a fun gift for anyone who has a sweet tooth. Made with gelatin, sugar, and flavored drink mix, to create a sweet and tasty treat.
Homemade Jelly Candy
My husband is a big fan of fruit jelly candy.
In fact, one of our girls had a friend who worked in a hardware store as a cashier in high school. One day she asked, "Is your dad the guy who comes in and buys Chuckles® all the time?" My mother loved them too, and although she has passed, I thought it would be fun to make some homemade jellies for my family and friends.
This post contains some affiliate links (that means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, there's no additional cost to you, but I will earn a very small commission. ) i.e. as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
After researching many recipes I decided to make them with gelatin, sugar, and Kool-Aid® packets
. It was the easiest way to get a few different flavors and colors, at a very affordable price.
One problem I ran into was the fact that I could not find lime Kool-Aid® so I did use lime extract and green food coloring for one of the batches. After all, my husband was the muse for this idea, and that is his favorite flavor.
In the end, the jellies turned out pretty good. The color and flavor were perfect. The firmness could have been better. This seems to be an issue for many recipes.
One thing that helped is flipping the jellies over after 24 hours, and adding a coating of sugar to the top, then letting them dry out another day. Also, the smaller ones dried out better, so keeping them small is a good idea.
Packaging Ideas
I have them packaged in Weck jars
and cellophane bags
, (the crinkly kind) for gift giving.
How Long Will They Last?
They should last for a month or so if kept in a sealed container. Probably longer in the refrigerator, unless of course, someone decides to gobble them up.
What are you making this year?
More Homemade Treats
Homemade Jelly Candy
Ingredients
- 2 - 1 oz. boxes gelatin 8 envelopes
- 2 cups cold water
- 2 1/2 cups boiling water
- 6 cups sugar
- unsweetened Kool-aid packets or flavored extract with food coloring
- 2 cups sugar for coating
Instructions
- Prepare pans by lining them with plastic wrap and vegetable spray. I used three 8x8 oven pans and two bread loaf pans.
- Place cold water in a bowl and sprinkle gelatin over top. Stir slightly to get all powder incorporated. Set aside
- In a medium saucepan bring 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add sugar and stir. Let simmer, stirring until all sugar is dissolved.
- Add gelatin mix to the sugar and water mix. Once all the ingredients have dissolved bring back to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let cool for about 1-2 minutes.
- Divide mixture into 5 bowls. Add one packet of drink mix to each bowl. If using extract add 3 teaspoons and enough drops of food coloring to get the color you wish. I used 5 drops of green for the lime candy.
- Mix with a wire whisk to ensure all the drink mix is dissolved.
- Pour into prepared pans and refrigerate overnight.
- Place a nice layer of sugar on parchment and flip the jelly candy on top. Then move to a new piece of parchment and use a pizza cutter to cut into small square or rectangular shapes.
- Let sit overnight. Then coat the bottoms of the candy in more sugar and let sit out overnight again with the newly coated side up.
- Place in bags or airtight containers.
Mary Culp
I've been looking for the Jell-o mint candy recipe my mom made in the 1950's. I got a Jell-o cookbook, but that recipe didn't work out. I remember them being in a square pan to set and weren't real high. She would cut them in 1 inch squares. Then some she would roll in powdered sugar and some she would put a chocolate topping. So good. They were very solid and not jiggly. I'm going to try these. I'll let you know.
Patti Estep
They so very interesting Mary. The ones I made are not very hard either. Let me know if you figure it out.
Pat Payne
Mary, is this the recipe you are looking for? We called it Turkish Delight.
18oz of Jello, 1/8 tsp salt, 1 c. boiling water, 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Combine jello, salt and boiling water in saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down temp and simmer gently for about 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add lemon juice. Pour into an 8"x8" glass dish that has just been wet with cold water. (I just lightly spray with Pam.) Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or best overnight. Carefully cut with knife into 1" squares. I usually tug it out of pan and set the big square on a cutting board then cut with sharp knife or even with scissors. It will be very stiff. Toss squares in powdered sugar. Keep in ziplock bag with a little extra sugar. Hope you see this. It's been two years since you posted. Happy Holidays !
Bliss
I have one all thing gummy son, I might have to make these for him. Pinned.
Patti Estep
Bliss, you better get right on it. 🙂
Debi
You put two boxes of gelatin 8 packets what does that mean?
Patti Estep
Debi, I can see why that was unclear. The recipe calls for 2 boxes (1 oz) each of unflavored gelatin. Each box contains 4 envelopes.
D
Do you think we can substitute Jello instead of gelatin and flavoring? They have some unique flavors at certain times of the year.
Patti Estep
I definitely saw a least one article using jello so I'd say yes. You may need to play around with it to get it where you want it, ie cooking it on the stove, adding additional sugar or corn syrup... There are many recipes online with all kinds of ingredients. Lots of people were even using applesauce. Let me know how it turns out.
Carole
Neat idea and love those sweet treats you can make ahead of time, especially for gift giving. I have a book idea for you... Ask me about it...