I cannot even wait for warmer weather to *finally* be (consistently) here! My goodness do we have a long winter – but, you guys…we have the best summer. I’m talking warm but not too warm, and on the hot days the amazing waters of Lake Michigan are right down the road to you cool you off with the world’s best kept secret in beautiful beach sand to relax in. 
As much as I like to keep summer popsicles in the freezer for lazy summer days at home, we are actually on the go to the beach or park quite a bit during the summer. These berry gummies come in handy for a quick pick me up for the girls and an extra protein boost. They make for a pretty special treat in their eyes as well! One of my feeding mottos for kids is to make every bite count. I’m not a huge fan of empty calories, or just giving kids something to “hold them over” until lunch. They are on the grow all the time even through the teenage years, so I want every bite they take to count toward that. And especially in the little ones like toddlers, who don’t take in a whole lot of food volume in the first place – I am not about to snack them on a bag of fruit snacks with zero nutrient value. 
These gummies are not only packed with protein rich grassfed gelatin, but my choice of fruit has a purpose too. Berries are loaded with antioxidants to protect and repair in the body. And since they have amazing flavor they is really no need for extra sweetening. Many days grabbing a hand full of berries and a slice of raw cheese or crispy nuts to bring to the park for a snack is my choice, but as my kids get older and see their peers with fun snacks in colorful bags, its been nice to have something like this to bring a smile to their face. They also make for great classroom birthday treats. We definitely do up fun birthday ice cream and special birthday cakes at home to celebrate, but I don’t think cupcakes need to be consumed both at their party and in the classroom (that usually happen within the same week!). These have been popular with my little girls’ classes so far (yes I realize they are young yet – we will take one year at a time to see if it goes over as well as they get older!) 
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A couple notes on the molds for the gummies! I really like the silicone molds that are firm to give a good hold, but also flexible enough that I can push out the gummies easily without them sticking, by popping the mold “inside out”. I have been using mine for years now and they have held up very well! I obviously have a house full of girls so I have a couple sheets of these flower molds
and these bunny molds
(which are great for celebrating Easter too!). But I am actually thinking about getting some of these plain circle molds
, and these square molds
since I’m thinking my nephews might prefer those to eat when they come visit! I thought these lego molds
were pretty cool too! And I’m pretty sure even my girls would love these dinosaur molds
and robot molds! The molds are a fun investment that you can use for everything from these gummies, to ice cube trays!
Antioxidant Rich Berry Gummies
Ingredients
- 3 cups frozen organic mixed berries I get the big bags of frozen organic at Costco. Since berries are a heavily pesticided crop I would opt for organic.
- ¼ cup water
- Optional ¼ cup raw honey My kids are used to just the fruit, but if I am making these for other kids that might be used to sweeter food then I add it. If you have little ones I would leave it out and keep their palates used to just the fruit
- ¼ cup grassfed gelatin
Instructions
- Put the berries and mwater in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Stir for a few minutes while everything melts and warms.
- Turn off the heat and add the raw honey. Stir to combine/melt.
- Put the warmed berry mixture in a food processor or blender, add the gelatin, and blend completely.
- Pour into your silicone molds (this amount fills about 48 slots in my molds) and refrigerate. I like to stick them in the freezer to make this part go faster – only takes about 15 minutes or so! The firmer, almost frozen gummies pop out of the molds nicer/easier too!
- After the mixture gels up, you can pop out the gummies – I just push the silicone mold “inside-out” – works great!
- Store your gummies in the fridge. They keep fine in the lunchbox without an ice pack though!
For more nourishing snack ideas check out my Snacks board on Pintrest!
More real food you might like:
5 Nourishing Summertime Popsicles
My boys love homemade gummies. I haven’t tried doing it with just fruit though, good idea!
This is awesome. I have never made gummies before I’m trying this.
What a fun idea. I can’t wait to make these with my girls.
Ok these look amazing! I’ll be trying for sure!
I am always looking for healthy recipes for the kids, thanks for sharing.
I have never ever made homemade gummies. I am going to have to give this a go!
What a fabulous recipe to have! I can’t wait to try it out!!
I’ve made something like this before, I need to find the right molds to make them. you did a great job! I can’t wait to try this recipe
Love these, so simple and can be done with any mold! I have heart shaped molds and snowflake shape molds I think these would look adorable in!
This is genius! And those molds! PS, you are a great photographer. That is my blogging weakness!
I’m definitely trying these Renee, I agree with you 100% on making every bite count! On another note, you may have the best summers but we have the best winters here in Spain.. 😉
YES Krystal – I agree! I’m thinking we need to host you here in the summer and stow away in your bags for the winter back to Spain!
It can be difficult to get kids to eat their tummies, but they are so important! Love these antioxidant rich berry dummies!
i love that you encourage leaving out the honey. Why train children to like sweeter foods ?! Really beautiful recipe! Pinned:)
These are so great. Thanks for sharing. I need to make these!
I love homemade gummies, and these look delicious. I have a bit of a thing for licorice, and homemade gummies let me have a similar something to satisfy that craving.
As for the comments… 🙂
I have spent many a winter (and summer) in both Michigan and Spain.
I’d have to say that for winters, I don’t really miss the Michigan snow here in Spain, but I do miss the central heating and the fact that you can pretty much always park wherever you’re going in most Michigan towns. The humidity in the winter here makes it feel colder than it really is.
In the summer, we’re on the coast like we were in Michigan, so the summers are actually surprisingly similar- no complaints since I love summer. 😉
I had never considered the idea I could make my own gummies. Great recipe to save. Thank you.
I love the combination of fruit and gelatin. The molds really do make it kid friendly. Perfect summer time treat for kids and adults!
These look great! I’m looking forward to getting some pretty molds like those to make these for my girls. Sweet photo of your little too.
This is a cute idea, I have a toddler that eats well some days and hardly eats on others. She would love to help Mommy make these.
I love that picture of your daughter at Lake Michigan – pure happiness! This recipe looks great. I’m a huge homemade gummy fan and I actually have that flower mold too. Planning to make these soon!
WOw! Those are huge gummies 🙂 They look really good!
Oooh! Thank you for this! My husband LOVES the wild blueberries from Costco, and I’m sure he would love these.
My daughter would totally love these
I’m convinced gelatin is magic! Just mix it with fruit, basically…
These look great!! My son will love them! How long would you say they will keep in the fridge for?
Hi Roberta! I wouldn’t let them go more than a week. You can freeze them up too for longer if you want!
Have you tried these with spinach or kale, like a green smoothie? Any idea if it would work, would you just use the same amount of fruit+veg as is listed for berries only in the recipe?
Hi Gloria 🙂 Yes I have made veggie/fruit blends with gummies before and it works great. I always recommend lightly cooking any greens like kale/spinach to reduce the oxalate load especially for little ones but the amounts would be the same all together. I also would suggest consuming anything like a leafy green with a friendly fat such as adding coconut oil or coconut butter to the mix as that helps the body absorb the vitamins/minerals found in the *fat soluble* greens otherwise you don’t really get much benefit 🙂 I hope that helps!
love this recipe! about how many do you think are a serving size using similar sized molds you have mentioned? my kids are 10, 8,5 and 2 and would probably want to gobble them all up! thanks!
Hi Melissa! This recipe makes 24 and I use them as a small snack/treat either in their lunch or in between meals so I just give them a few usually (the girls are 6, 4, and 1). These will freeze up nice too so if you want to make a larger batch you can get them into the freezer to store too. I hope that helps!
I tried a different gummy recipe before that called for 2 cups fruit juice (from blended fruits of your choice, I used strawberry and oranges) & 8 tablespoons of unflavored beef gelatin and the gummies lost their bright berry color and tasted like airy plastic. Is there a secret to using the gelatin? I’ve been afraid to try again. Thanks
Hi Bianca! That’s a lot of gelatin for 2 cups of the fruit! That is double what I use for the gelatin and less fruit too – I think you will like this ratio quite a bit better 🙂
any chance you could give an example recipe that would include the kale/spinach and coconut oil? We do smoothies this way, but tummies wod be fun too! Thanks!
Hi Jami 🙂 I would keep the 3 cups of “stuff” – so instead of 3 cups of the berry mixture you could do 2 1/2 cups of berry mixutre and then 1/2 cup of steamed spinach and a splash of coconut oil. I have not made gummies with coconut oil in them before though so I’m not sure how that would gel up but you could try a small amount if you want. I usually serve these as the girl’s “fruit” for a lunch so they are getting fat and veg in a different part of their meal or if it is a snack they will have a few gummies with a piece of raw cheese or some veggie sticks with dip. I hope that helps!
These look awesome. I am always looking for healthy snacks for my toddler. Lately she has gotten to be a somewhat picky eater, but I bet she would love these. I will have to give them a try. Thanks!
Great Dani! I think she’ll like these!
If I am reading correctly you are adding the gelatin to the mixture while it is warm just prior to pureeing it. I have read the directions on the packaging of this particular gelatin and it recommends to add it to cold liquids prior to warm. I do own this gelatin but have not used it yet. I have read several reviews about the product that claim when they added it to a warm product prior to mixing it with a cold, it just being a lumpy mess. I just want to make sure that I know if you are adding it to the warm mixture that it is not clumping up or maybe that I am not missing a step where you dissolved it and allowed it to thicken prior. Thank you.
Hi Amanda! Great question! If you add the gelatin and try to mix by hand you will get lumps, but since the gelatin is being added the the warm mixture and then blended right away you will not get the lumps at all 🙂
Hi!! I just ordered a silicon mold and the gelatin and truly can’t wait to try these! I was wondering if you’ve tried different fruits? A mango gummy perhaps? Or other blend? I’d love to hear!!
Hi Jenn! Really any fruit works!
Just made them now. I love gummy-ish stuff so I had to try this. Just for me! I used 1 tablespoon of honey. No way my batch would fill 48 as you say in the recipe. But then again, you say 24 in the comments. Maybe you just put a tiny amount in each one? I bought a heart mold and a zig-zag circular mold. Filled 9 of the second mold. Next time I’ll double the recipe and fill them both.
I just took one out of the freezer and popped them all out. Pretty good! I think you meant one mold of 24, Renee, not two molds, because I think the thicker ones are better because they’re chewier. Yeah, I could see any fruit or combo of fruits working. Maybe better with no seeds like apples, pears, seedless grapes. Melons, no, I don’t think so. How about banana & peanut butter? Well, glad to have them in the fridge for easy popping. I have the molds & gelatin so I’ll certainly be making them again. Thank you, Renee!
I made these on Sunday, and my three daughters love them! I used fresh blackberries and some blueberries and didn’t need the honey. They have had one or two after dinner as a little sweet. Every bite counts! I love that.
That is so great Lauren! Thanks for coming by to let me know!
Renee, I am wondering if you have tried to strain out the seeds before? I love the way these taste and would enjoy them without the seeds even more, but am unsure what step in the process that would be and what I could use to achieve that.
Hi Erica! I have not but I think if you just strain it before you put the gelatin in you should be good!
Just curious – where did you get your silicone molds that you used for this recipe?
Hi Heidi! There is a link to the one I got on Amazon up above! Let me know if that helps!
This was pretty good for my big molds, like you have in the picture, but for any intricate molds (like I did bears) will need about 2 Tbsp more gelatin…My poor bears lost their legs and heads because they weren’t thick enough, haha.
Hi Ashley! When I use my smaller mold, I pop them into the freezer and they pop out really easy! Adding more gelatin will work too! Thanks for the feedback!
All of your gummies look yummy!!!!! I would love to make some this weekend….Does the Jello gelatin work the SAME as other gelatin???? I read that agar agar would be better than the Jello gelatin? Any suggestions?
Thanks
Hi Heather! I have never tried the Jello brand or agar agar, so I’m not sure! I’m sorry!