Recipe: Homemade Fruit Snacks

There's really no reason why fruit snacks shouldn't be healthy, but the ones you can get at the store aren't really that great of an option. I don't mean to pick on any one brand, but there is an organic option at the store that uses two different types of sugar as the first two ingredients listed. That means there's a lot of sugar in there, and it's just not necessary. I made fruit snacks using... fruit. And grass-fed gelatin. If you remember from my Real Deal Marshmallows recipe, grass-fed gelatin is a wonderfully nutritious ingredient. I'm trying all kind of things to incorporate it, so here are my fruit snacks!

Ingredients:
2 ½ c. strawberries
½ c. lemon juice
2 TBS. honey
½ c. gelatin

You can use fresh or frozen fruit in this recipe. I used strawberries that I'd frozen last summer. Almost any fruit should work; I'm going to use blackberries next time! Put the berries and lemon juice in a saucepan and heat it on medium-low until the fruit starts to soften.

Use an immersion blender to puree the fruit, or pour it all into a blender. Then, set it aside to cool slightly for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the honey and gelatin. Whisk in the gelatin a little at a time so it doesn't clump up. Whisk, whisk, whisk! Once it is all incorporated, pour the liquid into silicone molds or a 9x13" baking dish, preferably lined with unbleached parchment paper.

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.

Store the fruit snacks in a lidded container either at room temp or in the fridge, if you like them cold. Aren't these just adorable? Enjoy, and don't feel guilty about serving them to your kids!

Printable: Homemade Fruit Snacks