Recipes for Making Homemade Candy
There’s nothing better than making homemade candy when you’re craving something sweet and don’t want to spend a lot. This is a fun way to entertain your kids and create original treats.
While making homemade candy may seem a bit complicated, the three recipes below will show you just the opposite. The best part is, they’re totally natural because they don’t contain preservatives or additives. Let’s get started!
Easy recipes for making homemade candy
Fruit gummies
These homemade candies are easy and fast to make. You can find the agar in a baking supply store or replace it with flavorless gelatin. Either way, the procedure is the same.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of fruit puree (your choice)
- 1 cup of water
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 1 3/4 tablespoons agar
Preparation
- Pour the water into a small saucepan and boil. When the water starts to boil, add the agar and stir for a few seconds.
- Prepare the fruit puree with your choice of fruit. You can choose strawberries, oranges, apples, peaches, etc.
- Add sugar to the fruit puree and mix well. Add to the already boiling water. Mix non-stop with a wooden spoon until the ingredients come together and the mixture thickens. Remove from fire.
- Line silicone molds or ice cube trays with neutral oil, such as sunflower oil. This will keep the gummies from sticking. Pour the mixture into the molds and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Place in the refrigerator for several hours. The candy will take on the desired consistency.
- Finally, remove the candy from the molds and then coat in sugar, piece by piece. You can store them in an airtight container for up to one week.
Pop cakes
If you have some leftover cake in the house, pop cakes are a great way to recycle it. Children love them and they’re a great way to decorate a birthday party candy bar.
Ingredients
For the base:
- Your choice of cake
- Dulce de leche, sweetened condensed milk or nutella
To decorate:
- White or milk chocolate covering
- Candy confetti or sprinkles
- Food coloring
- Wooden sucker sticks
“The best part of these homemade candy recipes is that they’re totally natural because they don’t contain preservatives or additives.”
Preparation
- Turn the cake into crumbs and place in bowl. Add dulce de leche, sweetened condensed milk or nutella.
- Mix the two ingredients with your hands until you have a dough you can work with.
- Form golf ball sized balls and insert a sucker stick in each one.
- Arrange on a tray and place in the refrigerator so the dough can harden.
- In the meantime, melt the chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds. You can also choose to place it in a metal bowl and melt it in a double boiler. If you’re using white chocolate, divide the chocolate into smaller bowls and add a bit of food coloring to each one.
- Remove the cake balls from the refrigerator and dip them completely in the melted chocolate. Then, sprinkle them with confetti or sprinkles.
- Place them back on the tray and chill them until it’s time to serve.
Dulce de leche candies
Dulce de leche candies are a healthy way for children to eat something sweet. You just need to prepare your ingredients and get ready to have fun making treats along with your little ones.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of dulce de leche
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- ⅓ cup of honey
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup of water
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
Preparation
- Grease a square 8-inch cake pan. Set aside.
- Pour the dulce de leche, salt and vanilla into a bowl. Mix without beating and set aside.
- In a separate pan, pour the sugar, honey and water. Mix until the grains of sugar disappear. Place on medium heat until the mixture becomes caramelized, but not hardened.
- Mix the dulce de leche with the caramelized sugar and honey. Mix until it thickens.
- Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave.
- Pour the mixture into your prepared cake pan. Use a spatula to spread out evenly. Allow to cool for several minutes before spreading on the melted chocolate.
- Allow to cool at room temperature for approximately one hour.
- Once cool, the candies will harden. Remove from the pan and cut into small squares. You can wrap them in plastic wrap or wax paper and store in an airtight container.
Of course, making homemade candy doesn’t mean you can eat an excessive amount. We recommend preparing just enough for what you need and sharing with friends and extended family as well. That way, you and your family will avoid eating too much sugar.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Jensen T., Abdelmalek MF., Sullivan S., Nadeau KJ., et al., Fructose and sugar: a major mediator of non alcoholic fatty liver disease. J Hepatol, 2018. 68 (5): 1063-1075.
- Kearns CE., Schmidt LA., Glantz SA., Sugar industry and coronary heart disease research: a historical analysis of internal industry documents. JAMA Intern Med, 2016. 176 (11): 1680-1685.