Star-Spangled Gumdrops

Celebrate with these Star-Spangled Gumdrops this Memorial Day weekend! Perfect for 4th of July and Labor Day weekend as well!

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Hard to believe that Memorial Day is this weekend!  The boys have 11 more days of school and yes, we count down, starting around 50 days 🙂  I am already getting a tad bit nervous as I think of how I am going to be filling our days.

I just know how hard minimum days can be with both of the boys around and it’s only going to be more challenging during the summer.  It gets so dang hot here in Sacramento that most days, playing outside after 10AM is pure torture.

Mommy needs to get creative 🙂

Fortunately, my boys DO love helping me in the kitchen.  Especially when the result is something totally fabulous and fun like these homemade gumdrops.

Perfect for Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day – they are super festive and make the perfect treat.  While my intentions were to make red, white, and blue gumdrops, I realized the sugar coating should totally count for the white 🙂

They look so pretty it’s hard to not to snatch one up each time I walk by.

So easy to make and always a crowd-pleaser, you can make these gumdrops into whatever shape and color you prefer.  I used a small star-shaped cookie cutter for mine.

I halved the original recipe and made it up in 8×8 pans and the thickness is really just perfect.  You want to use a small cookie cutter for these so you end up with lots of gumdrops.  Take the time to get the the cut-outs as close to each other as possible for maximum production.

Do NOT throw out the scraps.  Just take a knife and cut them into smaller pieces, dredge in sugar, and then portion off into snack bags for treats for the kiddos.  They LOVE this.

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Star-Spangled Gumdrops

 

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Ingredients

For each color you want:

• 1½ cups sugar, divided
• ¾ cup applesauce {I used natural, no sugar added}
• 1 pkg {3 ounces each} JELLO (I used Cherry and Berry Blue)
• .25 oz envelope unflavored gelatin (Knox brand)
• ½ tsp lemon juice {I used bottled}

Instructions

For each color you want:

1. Coat a 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. Place in refrigerator.
2. Combine 1 cup sugar, applesauce, JELLO, unflavored gelatin and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Let stand for 1 minute.
3. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly.
4. Boil for 1 minute and then immediately pour into cold baking dish.
5. Refrigerate until firm {about three hours should do it. I left mine in overnight.}
6. Generously dust a cutting board with sugar.
7. Loosen the sides of the gelatin with a spatula and invert onto cutting board.
8. Use small, sharp cookie cutters to cut out gumdrops.
9. Sprinkle sugar over a piece of waxed paper and place gumdrops on top of sugar. Let dry for about 8 hours or until slightly sticky.
10. Roll in remaining sugar and store in an airtight container.

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More red, white, and blue treats:

Patriotic Peppermint Patties

Red, White, and Blue Sparkler Cookies

Red, White, and Blueberry Breakfast

For all 4th of July recipes, go HERE.
For all dessert recipes, go HERE.
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Have a great day!