Adventures in Taste

Sophia saw me making my pumpkin cheesecake this morning and really wanted to help me. Since cheesecake is a bit out of her league at this point - I found some big boxes of strawberry gelatin, I had bought some powdered gelatin and of course we had applesauce and a tree full of lemons. The following tasty treat resulted.

Homemade Gumdrops - makes - LOTS, depending on how you cut them depends on how many you get! (generally about 1 3/4 lbs)

Ingredients

1 1/3 c. applesauce
2 +1/2 sugar
6 oz of fruit gelatin (we use strawberry and lime during Christmas time, but other colors/flavors will work for different seasons/occasions)
1 t. lemon juice
2 packets of unflavored gelatin

Grease a 11-in x 7-in x 2-in pan with non-stick cooking spray, put in freezer to make very very cold.

In a large saucepan, combine 2 cups of the sugar, applesauce, fruit gelatin, unflavored gelatin and lemon juice. Let stand 1 minute. Bring to a boil over medium heat (note this takes a while, but fight the temptation to turn up the heat!). Stir almost constantly . Once at a good boil, leave to boil for 1 minute (no stirring). Immediately pour into your nice and cold pan. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.

With a spatula loosen gelatin from the sides of the pan. Invert onto a large piece of wax paper. Using a knife, or cookie cutters dipped in hot water, cut into shapes/squares. Place on wax paper and let dry at room temp for about 8 hours (or until slightly sticky) .Roll in remaining sugar, store in an airtight container.