Gift Guide Day 1

I thought I'd start our DIY Gift Guide off with something colourful and fun and you can't get more colourful and fun than good old fashion candy.

These gum drops are super easy to make, though at times a little sticky, and the recipe produces a Halloween worthy haul of candy.

You'll need:

4 Tbsp gelatin which for me turned out to be equal to 4 envelopes
1 cup of cold water
1.5 cups of boiling water
4 cups of sugar
1/4 tsp flavouring - I used strawberry, peppermint and Orange. You will find them in your grocery stores baking aisle
1-2 drops of food colouring
Extra sugar for coating
Pans/dishes for mixture to set in - one for each flavour/colour



First up you need to soften the gelatin in the cold water for about five minutes, do this in a large pot.

Once your five minutes are up pour in the boiling water and stir until the gelatin is dissolved - like you do when making jelly.

Now stir in your 4 cups of sugar.

Stick it on the stove and bring it to the boil for 25 minutes, stirring continuously. It will bubble and look kind of like a tan throthy milk. The mixture doesn't thicken so don't start to panic like I did when that doesn't happen.

Pour equal parts of your mixture in to each pan for setting. I chose to put patty cases into my muffin tray and pour my mixture into that. You'll understand why when we get a few steps further down.



Add 1/4 tsp of flavouring and 1-2 drops of colour to each pan, mix through.

Cover your pan and chill overnight in the fridge.

The next day - I allowed about 24 hours in total - remove your gelatin mixture and cut into small squares using a knife that has been dipped in hot water. I used tap water, no need to boil, it worked just fine.



Here's why the patty cases came in handy. Gelatin is sticky and I didn't fancy scrubbing the pans afterwards. By using the patty cases I simply cut the gelatin peeled off the case and tossed in the sugar to coat. The case then got tossed in the bin, no washing - scrubbing- needed.

I cut each case into quarters in hindsight I could have gone much smaller and I recommend it as it helps them to crystallise. So think about the size of the gumdrops you get store bought, that's how small you want to go.

Once you've cut your gelatin into small pieces, toss each piece in sugar and make sure it's coated on each side, then set on a tray lined with baking paper and leave at room temperature for two days. I covered my tray with a tea towel and sat it out of reach of little fingers.



After the two days of crystallising store in an air tight container.

These gum drops would make a great gift for school friends, teachers, neighbours, church friends, work friends, gym friends, ok maybe not gym friends given the amount of sugar, but you get my point. The yield from this recipe is about 8 dozen gumdrops - that's a lot of gifts. Airtight containers can be picked up at the reject shop for $1.50 or for an even better budget friendly idea pick up a box of ziplock bags and create some funky labels.

If stored in an air tight container these gumdrops should survive being posted to loved ones far away.



Have fun creating your own sugar rainbow

Skye



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