While candy making may seem daunting at first, it can be quite simple. All you need are a few, easily found ingredients – and a reliable recipe.
I am a candy freak. Before reaching for a cookie or pastry, I go for marshmallows, taffy, gummies – anything sweet, gooey, chewy that makes a dentist cringe. I devour them all – Twizzlers, Runts, Malt Balls. I even like Necco Wafers, which seem to have tragically slipped into the Halloween bucket reject pile. 
Some may scoff at my lowbrow addiction, but there is a lost art behind these now mass-produced confections. Hand -pulled taffy and homemade fudge seem like a treat of yesteryear, rather than the attainable treat I would like to eat today.
While candy making may seem daunting at first, it can be quite simple. Sugar syrup is the foundation for most candy, with added fillings such as chocolate, nuts, peanut butter, nougat, fruits and so on. All you need are a few, easily found ingredients – primarily sugar – and perhaps a few others such as gelatin, pectin (more customarily know for making jellies and preserves), fruit puree – and a reliable recipe. Sugar syrup is the foundation for most candy, with added fillings such as chocolate, nuts, peanut butter, nougat, fruits and so on.
One of the simplest candies is Pectin Fruit Jellies, using sugar, fruit puree, applesauce and pectin. Take a break from cakes and pie, and try your hand with some homemade confections.
PrintPectin Jellies Recipe
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 30 pieces 1x
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup applesauce
- 1 cup fruit puree
- 1/2 oz powdered pectin
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- On a baking sheet, reduce applesauce in a 200F oven for 30 minutes
- Combine reduced applesauce and puree in a medium sauce pan.
- Combine pectin with 2 Tbsp of the sugar and whisk it into fruit puree – 4. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly
- Add half of the sugar and return to a boil, continue stirring
- Add remaining sugar, continue stirring, and return to a boil
- Stir in lemon juice
- Pour into set molds, or baking sheet, and set overnight
- Sprinkle with sugar and remove from molds, or turn out of pan and cut.
Notes
Prepare your baking sheet with pan spray and a light dusting of granulated sugar.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
I share your addiction! I’ll be trying these!
First thank you for the recipe. It was simple ingredients, with simple directions that have produced a simply lovely candy!
This is my second attempt (not your recipe of coarse). The first one produced a very slimey mass of goo. Undaunted, kept searching the web, and thankfully landed on your site. I am looking forward to countless fruit combinations. This batch is grape purée, yum!
Well, thanks again.
Sandy G.
Is there a typo in the recipe? I’m from Australia so I’m a bit confused about what “1#12 oz sugar” means. Could you please clarify?
I had the same question—but I’m from New Zealand!
Same comment, what is the sugar amount? Can you reduce it to English words please rather than symbols? Are we talking about 28 Oz by weight of sugar? That’s what it seems and it seems an awful lot. Help please!
All fair comments and questions – we have updated this classic recipe with more understandable ingredient list and measurements. Thank you for keeping us Honest :D
It means it’s 1 pound and 12 ounces. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
I think she means, 1 pound + 12 ounces. That’s a pound sign here, but apparently other peoples phones work differently. As well as there isolation from modern internet. Not to be rude.
I’m looking for a recipe for gummy worms. I’ve tried a few with gelatin but the consistency seems too jello like and it did not have much flavor. Someone suggested I use pectin. What are your thoughts and do you have a recipe?
For gummy bears I would stick to gelatin. Pectin has a different melting point and will have a very different texture. For a recipe, I would look for recipes by Chef Peter Greweling – he is the master of all things candy and chocolate.
How do you store the candy? I’m thinking of making this to add to a homemade peanut butter flavored instant breakfast mix to give it a PB&J taste. So, bits of the candy would be mixed into the powder mix. I would need it to keep for at least a couple weeks.
i have a lot of very sweet pitaya fruit. i am trying different things to use and preserve. i would like to make these jelly candies but can i use only my fruit and make without applesauce? or is it needed for the pectin?
thanks
I am looking to make cinnamon bears using Black Cherry Juice as a base. I tried a recipe using Cranberry Juice and Knox gelatin…it was quite sour.
So, I’m going to try Pectin/Sugar Syrup approach. How much Pectin should I use if I use half cup cherry juice/ half cup Sugar Syrup?
Am I barking up the wrong cinnamon tree?
Just to clarify, is that 3 and 3/4 cups of sugar? That’s a lot of sugar.
Yup. It’s that much sugar! Because it’s a confection sugar makes up the bulk of it
hi marissa,
thanks for the recipe of pectin jelly. can you publish a recipe without fruit puree ? only sugar / glucose mixture ? i will appreciate.
thanks & best regards.
syed
sorry, forgot to mention, i made the jellies for my grandson but ended up eating more than half of it
syed
Thanks for using pectin
Was in a candy shop in Gold Country California and I bought some jalapeno jelly candies. Oh my goodness!! Got any ideas for adding that yummy flavor to make a hot/sweet confection? My husband makes pepper jelly every year from his garden.
Can you please explain what would be considered fruit puree? How would you make it? Thanks
How do I make the fruit puree needed for this recipe? Thanks!
Hullo, I love your posts. am inspired. am a student in Uganda doing food processing technology in my final year working on product development and the product of my choice is a fruit jelly. kindly share with me literature. thank you.
I use a similar recipe for Cactus Candy, when getting more pectin for me my aunt accidentally got instant (freezer) pectin, is there any way I can use this or do I have to return it?
Please tell me the source and size of your molds. The gum cross are so cute!
I love candy too! Especially the candy fruit slices found in specialty stores. I am dying to know how to make them from scratch. I have found many recipes for the jelly candy but I want that white layer that surrounds the slice and the hardened outer coating to make the real thing. Do you have any suggestions on how to make the finishing touches for a true homemade candy slice.
What would you suggest if i didn’t want to use sugar and only stevia or some such product?
I only have one candy mold sheet, so i will be doing one sheet a day. Do you think i have a chance to heat the leftover mass slowly on the stove (say, over a double boiler) each day to re-liquefy and re-gel?
What is fruit puree and where do you find it?
Looks great. My only question is, is this using liquid or powder pectin?
Thanks for the recipe, but how much is “1#12 oz Sugar”?
1 pound 12 ounces
What kind of puree did you use?
Hello!
What type of pectin do you use for this?
It means one pound (#), 12 oz. aka 28 oz aka 3.75 cups
how long are these good for and do they need to be refrigerated?
I would love to know what the reduction of applesauce does to the jellies? Is the fruit puree any fruit and the applesauce a further pectin boosr? Thanks Danya from Scotland
Ive been searching for a recipe like this forever. I do need to ask what KIND of pectin is used? Powdered or liquid. I actually have both on hand. Ill give it a shot using the powder.
Is there any alternative to using the reduced applesauce? Perhaps apple or tapioca syrup?
Re: the pectin, is it liquid or powder? If liquid, is it 0.5 oz by weight or 0.5 oz by volume? Also, what are your instructions for making the puree? Thanks you.