Texture wise, gumdrops are a lot like last week’s treat but slightly more firm. And this is a quick easy recipe to make as well. Good for people just getting into sweets making.
They are a good one for eating while watching something. Lots of flavors and fun! So make some and bring them to the second task!
This recipe doubles and triples real easily!
You will need!
Ingredients
Gelatin Mixture
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 3 envelopes plain gelatin (about 2 tablespoons gelatin powder)
Sugar Syrup
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 cups sugar
- Food coloring
- Extracts ( peppermint, orange, lemon, cinnamon, vanilla, rum, apple, anything really)
- Additional sugar for finishing the gumdrops. Make sure this is granulated sugar not powdered!
Equipment needed
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Bowls
- Small candy molds, traditional gum drop shape or have some fun with odd small shapes!
- Saucepan
Instructions
- Prepare the gelatin mixture. Pour the 1/2 cup cold water into a large bowl. Sprinkle evenly with the gelatin and allow to soak while you prepare the sugar syrup.
- Prepare the sugar syrup by bringing the 3/4 cup water and 2 cups sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. DO NOT WALK AWAY. This can go from ready to BURNT real fast and burnt sugar smells nasty.
- Add the hot sugar syrup to the gelatin mixture. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
- Split the mixture into bowls and color and flavor as desired. As many as you want but 1 flavor/color per bowl. The amount for each one will vary according to how intense you want both the color and the flavor. On average about 4 drops of food coloring and an 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of extract – but extracts vary, so add a little at a time until the desired flavor is achieved.
- Pour into pans or molds. This is where you can have some fun with the shapes! Chill for several hours or overnight.
- Remove gumdrops from molds. They may want to stick in it but don’t worry, the next step covers little mistakes and you just eat the big ones.
- Roll the gumdrops in the granulated sugar. For some fun flavor bursts you can also add a few drops of food color and extract to the sugar, .enough to color it but not dissolve it and THEN roll the gum drops in that!
