Pinterest Adventures: Jello Fruit Snacks

This is a first of hopefully many Pinterest Adventure posts. I know a lot of people do them and the humor in it is that real life doesn't always translate to pinterest level products. However, I really think it's nice to see that someone else, a "normal" person, was able to somewhat successfully do something found on Pinterest.

(If you have any pins that you would like me to try out first to work out the kinks, just let me know!)

Picture and Recipe credit goes to Six Sisters Stuff blog: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/06/homemade-jello-fruit-snacks-recipe.html

This pin caught my eye because it said Homemade fruit snacks. I love fruit snacks, but being a graduate student, and a newlywed, fruit snacks are not in the budget. So of course I thought I'd be able to have fruit snacks if I made them at home. Sadly, the ingredient list at the time would have cost about the same amount as a box of fruit snacks, so I just let it sit.

Then, I decided I really really wanted to try it. I went to Kroger and found out that Kroger brand gelatin was on sale for only 39 cents a box. So I grabbed a couple on the last shopping trip, and waited for a weekend.

First off, it says to "sprinkle the gelatin" into the water. This didn't work. The gelatin clumped up all gross and kind of stayed that way on the first go around. The second time though, I whisked it in like I would with gravy mix. Whisk constantly while slowly pouring the powder in. It worked better, but not perfectly. Maybe it would work better with brand name gelatin?

Next, I poured it into a mini ice cube mold, the ones with the silicone bottom so you can pop the ice out easier? I had difficulties trying to decide how full to fill them though. This is the first go around when I filled them up pretty much all the way. I ended up not filling every one up. And ended up with some monstrously big fruit snacks. 

My second go around, I filled them to where the silicone part ended. I had enough to fill up this mold, and if I had a second mold probably about half of that one. Since I didn't have a second mold I used my husband's gun shaped ice cube mold. Got two guns out of it too. 

The tutorial instructed me to let the fruit snacks "sit" for "at least 20 minutes". Ok. Good, I could do that. I wandered off to Netflix a show. When I came back, they were still really soft and I couldn't get them to come out of the mold. 

Yeah, so turns out you should let them sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. This was missing from the instructions. Second go around, golden on this.  However, this did not ease the getting them out of the mold process. Alas, I have no pointers on this part other than be patient, and maybe a little aggressive. They will eventually come out. 

Finally, they do not need to be kept in the fridge after the initial setting. But they do need to be eaten rather quickly ( a couple of days) if you elect to not keep them in the fridge. They will mold otherwise. At least they will if you live in the South like I do.

My last thought: These really aren't like store bought fruit snacks. They are weirdly squeaky (best word I could come up with) and don't taste nearly as good as store bought ones do. BUT if your children are young and you are on a budget, go for it. They probably won't be able to tell the difference.