• My middle son is an absolute fruit snack addict. He wants them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and dessert. I tried switching him over to just dried fruit, but that didn’t go over very well. Turns out it is the gummy aspect that he likes, in addition to the sugar. Because really, what four year old doesn’t love a gelatinous blob of sugary “fruit” flavoring? Yuck. So like any self respecting over-achieving mom I thought, I can make my own fruit snacks! And they will be filled with what I want my kids to have! You can choose all organic fruit if you want. You can sweeten with stevia, or whatever your sweetener of choice may be. For these banana fruit snacks I chose non organic, and regular sugar (because I was using so little, and quite honestly I was out of anything else.) Shhh! Don’t tell any of my organic loving friends.

    Your ingredient list is simple.

    You will need:
    Two very ripe bananas. I like to choose ones that are slightly over ripe. The riper they are, the sweeter they are and the less added sweetener you will need.
    1/2 cup lemon juice
    4 packets of unflavored gelatin

    Mash your bananas and mix with the lemon juice. Simmer the banana lemon juice mixture for about two minutes. You just want to get the fruit soft.

    When the bananas are good and soft you will want to purée them until smooth. Use your immersion blender, food processor, or regular ole blender. Whatever gets the job done. At this point, taste the mixture. You can add sweetener one teaspoon at a time until things taste the way you like. I have never once used more than three teaspoons of sweetener. The bananas are usually sweet enough. After it tastes good stir in your gelatin packets. Adding the gelatin while its still in the blender is generally how I do it. That way I can blend to make sure the gelatin is well mixed in.

    Pour your mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

    Put them into the fridge and allow the gelatin to do its thing. It usually takes a few hours.

    When it is perfectly firm remove from the fridge and out of the pan. You can find and use tiny little cookie cutters, but for me, I just use my pizza slicer to make small squares (okay, technically cubes).

    Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Mine never last more than a week or two (but I’ve got three kids).