Homemade Gumdrops-fresher than anything you can buy. Makes a great food gift, adjust the flavors and colors for any occasion
I can’t believe it’s another week gone by. Where is the time going all of the sudden?
I think someone has pushed the fast forward button on my life when I just want to hit the pause, just for a few minutes.
It was a crazy week, what with Online Blogcon, then the kids had me running every which way. Weekends are normally family time, relaxed, sometimes we don’t even leave the house. Not this weekend.
Hubby decided we needed to have a date night Friday night. Don’t get me wrong, I love date night. Just the two of us, out for dinner, or a movie, or shopping, nothing over the top, but it’s just us. Hubby wanted to go to Joe’s Stone Crab. No idea why that got in his head but oh yeah baby, I’m all about eating some crab. Joe’s Stone Crab is 89 miles from our house, no biggie, we’ll leave about 5 pm get there around 6:30 pm. perfect time for dinner.
Here’s how my weekend went. Get up early on Friday. I have to bake 15 dozen cookies (3 different recipes,) 36 muffins, my Coffeehouse Coffee Cake Muffins, all for a big bake sale Grace is doing Saturday morning. Oven is preheating at 8 am. Butter’s softening in the mixing bowl. As I’m making that first double batch of cookies I realize I’m going to run out of sugar before the day is done. Mom to the rescue, she’s happy to run to the store for me. Chocolate Chip-Pecan Cookies all baked and cooling on racks on the table. Lemon Sugar Cookies dough made, first batch baking in the oven. Go to make Dark Chocolate Tiger Cookies, CRAP! This dough needs to refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours. I don’t have 6 hours, we’re leaving to go to dinner at 5 pm. Make dough, throw it in the freezer. Continue baking the Lemon cookies. Get ready to make the muffins. CRAP! I’m out of sour cream! Finish baking lemon cookies, change my shirt (no I haven’t had a shower yet,) hop in the truck and run to the store for sour cream. Back home in 15 minutes flat. No I didn’t break any speed records, the store is only 5 minutes away. Make up muffins, bake, bake, bake.
All the while washing dishes as I go. I can’t stand dirty dishes in the sink. On the last tray of muffins, I hop in the shower, timer on the bathroom counter so I make sure they don’t burn.
Back out to kitchen, towel on my head. Grab the chocolate dough out of the freezer, still a bit soft in the middle but I can work with it. It’s now 2 pm. After each tray is placed in the oven, I’m putting the dough back in the freezer. Cassie walks in the door at 3:07, I bribe her (with money) to package up and add ribbon for all the cookies, while I try and get pictures done for these gumdrops (which I made the day before) and also take new photos of all the above cookies and muffins. Last tray of cookies out of the oven at 4:10 pm.
Decide I’d better try and get a jump on the laundry (very smart idea considering how my weekend went) Load one in washer. Hubby and I leave the driveway for dinner at 5:30 pm (not my fault, honest!) Traffic to Atlanta is HORRIBLE! We honestly thought traffic going into Atlanta wouldn’t be too bad, silly us. By 7 pm, we’re both talking about just pulling into the nearest McDonald’s and grabbing some fries. You never saw me say I had lunch, did you? All I’d had to eat (besides the few samples of cookies dough) were 1 cookie and a few pieces of cheese. I was STARVING! Joe’s was worth it though. Back home at 11 pm.
That was just Friday. Saturday, we spent all day doing a bake sale at an Antique Car Auction. Leave the house at 9 am and don’t return until 4:30 pm. Let me tell you, the first few hours of the car auction were really cool, I’d never been to an auction before, those auctioneers can talk FAST! And some of the cars…I really need to win the lottery, there was one Thunderbird that was just calling to me. It was Grace and her BFF, doing the bake sale to raise money for their DC trip in February. The girls were great but they’re in the 5th grade. After 4 hours, they’re getting tired of behaving and looking cute. Now they’re antsy and looking bored. It was worth it, they did really well and they’ve been invited back to the next auction.
Get home, hubby knows if he wants to eat something other than PB &J he’d better handle it. Out to the local pizza place for dinner we go. Try to catch up on a few things on the computer, FB, Blog and just talking with the hubby while watching tv together. Bed by 11 pm. Oh, I did some more laundry too.
Sunday morning. We have to go back to Atlanta, this time the north side, for the Blogcon meet up. I’ll tell you more about that on Saturday. If we’re going to Atlanta, I want to go to IKEA. I’ve never been and I’ve heard so much about it. Hubby’s accommodating. Yes, he’s a good man and drove me. I can’t stand big city driving. Remember, we have 4 traffic lights in our town and that’s it. Leave the driveway at 9:30 am, surprise, NO TRAFFIC! We get there with an hour before the meet up. Not much is open so we just walk into Marshalls. Marshalls, if you read this, make our store in Warner Robins as nice as the one in Alpharetta, Georgia. I found a new cake stand and the cutest little red colander. Sever other treasures but I held myself in check, I still have IKEA in my future.
Wonderful lunch with 3 lovely ladies, time for IKEA. Having never been there, I had no idea how HUGE that store really is. I knew it was a warehouse but it’s a warehouse the size of a football stadium! We walk in the store at 3 pm and believe it or not, we’re out by 4:30 pm. Power shopping! Honestly, I was so overwhelmed, I didn’t do the store justice. The prices were fantastic, I did get a few nick-knacks and the coolest bar to hold my coffee cups under the kitchen cabinets. I’ll be going back there, next time, it will be the only reason we go to Atlanta. IKEA, I heart you.
Call kids on the way back home. Grace was still at a friends house till after dinner, CJ and Cassie are fine, CJ has church group at 6 pm so it’ll just be 3 of us for dinner. Hubby decides on more take out instead of the leftovers in the fridge. I’m ok with that. Sometimes weekends like this happen. I still have to finish up laundry, pick CJ up at 8 pm, get Grace back home, write up this post. Oh….and finish up the laundry.
WOW! Just reading back over this post is making me worn out again. Glad our weekends aren’t always so packed. Do other families run crazy like this?
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Homemade Gumdrops
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup apple juice
- 1 package Jell-o Gelatin, 4 serving size-color of your choice
- 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- extra sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Coat a Loaf pan with cooking spray. You can also use an 8x8 pan, gumdrops will be thinner. Place pan in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan, let sit for 1 minute. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly Once you reach a steady boil, continue to boil for 1 full minute. Pour into chilled pan and return to refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
- Once gelatin is set, run knife around edges to loosen. Using a spatula, remove gumdrop slab to wax paper and cut into desired shapes using a sharp knife. If knife starts to get sticky, run under hot water. Transfer cut gumdrops to a tray lined with fresh wax paper to dry at room temperature for at least 10 hours, preferably overnight. I placed my tray in the cold oven to dry. Roll gumdrops in granulated sugar and store in airtight container.
Notes
recipe source ChocolateChocolateandmore.com
Adapted from Taste of Home
I also made some shaped gumdrops using a silicone ice mold I found at the Dollar Store
Looking for other ways to play with Jello?
Allison says
How much is in an envelope of gelatin please. Thanks
Joan Hayes says
these gumdrops are made with Jello, the package size is 3 ounces. for the unflavored gelatin, there are 4 envelopes in a 1 ounce package so each envelope would be 1/4 ounce.
Donna Tripp says
My husband love gum drops but he can not have Apples. Is there any thing that could replace the Apple juice? I love your recipes.. Have tried many they do not always look as good as your BUT the taste is great.. Thank you..
Joan Hayes says
You could also use a white grape juice. Hope your husband enjoys these.
Mandy says
I made these with orange juice and orange jello!! AWESOME!! Have peach with pear juice in the fridge right now. Thank you so much…I’ve always been afraid to try candy!
Mandy says
Tried these again with something new…used the Jolly Rancher Green apple and added some finely chopped walnuts…awesome! Thank you again for the great recipe!
Jessica says
Could I substitute white grape juice for the apple juice?
Joan Hayes says
Yes you can!
michelle c. says
I’m on a diet and wonder if they can be made in a sugar free or reduced suger
Joan Hayes says
yas, you can certainly use sugar free Jello mix to make these!
Faleen says
I am just double checking on my understanding of your directions. You mention taking the ingredients up to a boil and after that pouring into a chilled pan and ‘return to refrigerator for 3-4 hours’….i never put anything that hot into the refrigerator. if i leave it on the counter to cool down prior to placing in the refrigerator will it affect my outcome? Placing even that volume of heat in the refrigerator is not a good idea for the unit.
Joan Hayes says
You are right, you should let it cool enough to be able to handle the pan before putting it in the refrigerator.
April says
So, cool! I was just thinking of gumdrops this past week. Excited to find your recipe. Can’t wait to make them soon.
annette says
I have an allergy to lemon. Can I use lime or orange juice.
Joan Hayes says
Yes you can!
Tawni Hoy says
Do you store at room temp and how long will they stay fresh in jar???? Want to make for my dad for Christmas. Excited.
Joan Hayes says
Yes, store these at room temperature. They will keep for 2-3 weeks in an air tight container.
Amy Leigh Strickland says
I just made two batches of these yesterday and left them in my cold electric oven to dry overnight. They are still super jiggly (hardly more solid than plain Jell-O. You said something in another comment about them firming up more over a week. Is that a week left out to dry or a week in a container? Is there anything to be done to make them a bit stiffer at this point? I was expecting something more solid like a Dot candy, not little Jell-O Jigglers.
Mary says
I have an allergy to all citrus fruits. Is there anything else I can use in place of the lemon juice that isn’t citrus?
Joan Hayes says
You can just leave the lemon juice out, you won’t even miss it.
kathleen says
how long do you think they would stay fresh?
kathleen says
never mind, i see the post above!
Chrissy says
Can’t wait to make these:) Thanks so much for the recipe. I can’t wait to receive more. Oh and yes a lot of families live like that lol speaking from a family of 9. Seems like the only down time I get is while sleeping:/ Still wouldn’t change it for the world:)
Chrissy
kentuckylady717 says
I am so tired just reading your blog ๐ I love all the jello recipes….want to make them all….can’t wait to make the cake, lemon cookies and the gum drops first….these are all so neat…..sounds like you are one busy lady…..keep up the good work….
Laurie says
I made these over the weekend. So easy and yummy! I used my metal pizza slicer to cut the jello into squares and it worked great. No sticking and super fast. These won’t last long at my house.
Joan Hayes says
Thanks Laurie, I’m happy you liked them! ๐