Yum
Admittedly I haven’t been cooking anything photo worthy lately since I’ve been busy in the flower beds fighting off little beetles and weeds and planting perennials in an overwhelmingly large space that has been overgrowing for many years before we bought the house. This is my year to get it under control and it’s been a task… one that is far from completion. Yes… I know … for many of you gardeners out there, the job is never actually done — it’s more of a process. And though I don’t have an issue maintaining the space the burst of time and energy to get it to a point where it feels like maintenance feels pretty monumental at times. This is how I’ve been spending all my free time. It has been somewhat rewarding and I have recently fallen in love with the Peony.
Sometimes it just feels like I’m getting a huge workout, squatting, lunging, digging and sweating like crazy. I feel like I should reward myself by eating a whole load of candy .. 😉
The days that it rains I’m am grateful for a reprieve. Yesterday was one of those days and as I was catching up on my Facebook reading I came upon a video that sparked an urge. It was one of making jelly candies. If you’re interested in the original video that moved me to action you can find it here. I would add a couple of pieces of advice that weren’t included in the video and you can find them in the instructions below.
Making these was relatively simple though a little time consuming since I wanted to make a variety of these and each colour is made seperatly… they were fun… simple … and now I am reaping the rewards….
Gummy Candy
(Adapted from Grant Thompson aka ‘The King of Random’ @ THEKINGOFRANDOM.COM)
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup clear corn starch
- 1 package of instant Jello
- 2 packages of unflavoured gelatine
- 4 – 6 packets of True Lemon (optional if you want the candy to have more tang)
Mix all ingredients cold in a small sauce pan. Make sure that all the powder is dissolved and not in clumps. Turn the heat onto med low and stir often bringing to a slow simmer. As soon as you see that the mixture had a clear appearance then set aside for a few minutes to cool down. Pour the mixture into a squirt bottle for easy pouring into moulds. If you try to pour the hot mixture fresh from the pot it will squirt with far less control and you’ll have a little trouble holding the bottle.
Before you pour the liquid into moulds make sure you spray them with a bit of vegetable oil. This makes them MUCH easier to get out later. Let them sit on the counter for about a half to an hour, making sure they are fairly solid before popping them out of the moulds. Pull them out and store in a plastic container in the fridge (also easier if you spray them again with a little oil…this keeps them from sticking to everything, your hands as well as each other). Apparently they will stay for about a month but I’m not sure mine will last until the end of the week.
Enjoy!