Homemade Fruit Snacks

I recently saw some recipes for homemade fruit snacks that I thought I'd try. I tried this one first, but the lemon juice made it too tart/sour for my kids' taste. So I looked at a few other recipes, and did my own version using proportions that looked like they worked in the other recipes. And we had success!
Since gelatin is actually good for you (a good amount of protein and good for your hair, skin, nails, etc.), and the only other ingredients are fruit and some honey, I let my kids have a lot more of these fruit snacks than I ever let them have of the store bought ones.

Fruit Snacks
1 1/2 C. strawberries or other fruit
1/2 C. fruit juice (I used V8 Fusion)
2 T. (or a little more) honey
1/4 C. gelatin

Heat fruit and juice on stove top for about 5 minutes until fruit is soft. Puree in a blender or food processor, add the honey, and whisk in a little at a time the gelatin, whisking continuously to avoid clumping of the gelatin. Pour into silicone molds and let set in fridge for an hour or two.

Caramels

If you're looking for more tasty candy recipes, here's another REALLY easy one. Just don't think about how much fat and sugar you're putting in. Or give away most of them, and the ones you eat get cancelled out by your generosity. :)

Caramels:
1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (use the can for measuring the other ingredients)
2 sticks of butter
1 can Karo syrup
1 can sugar
1 can brown sugar
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan that's big enough for the liquid to more than double when it's boiling and cook on high heat, stirring constantly until it reaches soft ball stage. That means stir for a long time. Pull out your favorite Christmas book to read while you stir. To test for soft ball stage, fill a cup about halfway with cold water and put a little of the caramel into the cup. When you can pull it out in a nice soft ball that is as soft or hard as you like your caramels, turn off the stove. Pour the mixture into an ungreased cake pan and let cool. Cut into pieces and wrap with wax paper. I've found that a pizza cutter can work pretty well.

One batch can make 150+ caramels. It goes a long way. Enjoy!

Candied Pecans

'Tis the season to be baking. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

But as you will hear from many sources, if you're giving away food to non GF-ers, GF cookies or cake probably aren't the best options because the will taste "weird" to untrained taste buds. So stick with candy and other junk food that is naturally gluten-free. :)

This is the tastiest treat EVER! Candied pecans. And so easy to make.

Recipe:
2 lbs pecans
Whisk together 2 egg whites, 6 tsp (good) vanilla, 2 tsp water.
Put nuts in a BIG Ziploc and add the liquid, smoosh around. (Yes, that's the technical term)
Mix together in a bowl: 2 cups sugar, 4 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp salt.
Dump this in the bag and smoosh around some more until they look coated. Put on a sheet cake pan and bake at 300 for an hour stirring every 15 minutes or so.

It will fill your home with a delicious aroma, and tastes just as good. I packaged them into little baggies to give to some friends and neighbors on goody plates along with some fudge and caramels.

Hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!!