These Real Cranberry Gummy Bears are slightly sweet, a little tart, easy to make, a healthier option to candy and a fun poppable treat. We love making them with fresh or frozen cranberries.
Why You’ll Love These Cranberry Gummy Bears
These Real Cranberry Gummy Bears are super easy to make and taste great. Kids AND adults love them!
You only need a couple of ingredients and some gummy bear molds. I bought this set from Amazon. It was perfect for this recipe.
Holiday Gummy Mold Ideas
Here are a few of the molds we have purchased off Amazon to make these and other gummies in.
Please note, these are affiliate links and if you choose to make a purchase using one of them, we may receive a commission with no additional cost to you.
Also please note, we own all of these listed below and have tested them or we wouldn’t share them. This is why only a few holidays are mentioned, but I am certain you will find something you are looking for.
This makes a great holiday snack, fun gift idea or a ‘just because’ snack this time of year. Or anytime really.
Tips & Tricks
- These can be made with fresh cranberries if desired. You will need to boil the cranberries for a couple of minutes to make them softer with a bit more liquid to work with, otherwise they leave very chewy, crunchy chunks.
- We strongly recommend you use frozen in these gummies. However they do need to be thawed first.
Printable Recipe
Real Cranberry Gummy Bears
Suggested Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup cranberries thawed
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
Instructions
- Thaw frozen cranberries. I don’t recommend using fresh cranberries in this recipe.
- In a blender, puree the thawed cranberries with 1/3 cup of water.
- Pour into a saucepan on the stove over medium-low heat. Add lemon juice and honey and whisk until combined.
- Sprinkle gelatin over the top of mixture a little at a time, stirring constantly. Be sure to sprinkle the gelatin on top (do not dump it all in at once) or you will wind up with clumps of gelatin that never really break up.
- Cook over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes or until mixture is smooth. Gelatin when melted will give the mixture a glassy, smooth appearance.
- Put your gummy bear mold’s on a cookie sheet, and using a dropper, fill all the mold’s with the mixture.
- Refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours. Pop the bears out of the mold's and enjoy!
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
These are so cool! I am trying to resist new kitchen toys, but those molds are irresistible!!
Absolutely cute! I love this idea!
I love this recipe so much – I totally want to make it with my daughter. Going to buy a few extra bags of cranberries to stash in the freezer just for this!
I would love nibbling on these. They look so good but I would have to eat fast around here before anyone found out I had them. Not that I don’t like sharing, but—some things are best left as a secret stash.
These look so yummy! My kids would have a blast making these cranberry gummy bears!
I have GOT to find those molds. These look so fun and delicious.
These are so fun! I need one of those molds!
Could I use real cranberry juice instead of the whole cranberries?
You can use real cranberry juice to try and make this recipe, but if it has anything added into it, it will change the recipe. Most on the market juices have something added, like color or sugar or preservative.
This looks fabulous. Amy suggestions about what I could use instead of bear molds? I hate the thought of buying them and then not using them. Lame, I know.
Not lame at all, I can understand that. To be honest any shape of silicone mold should work. We have tons of mini silicone molds and while we use ours a lot, try to choose a shape you could use for more than just candy. Hearts are good, stars. Even just mini silicone ice trays. Just be careful that nothing is too intricate because sometimes it gets sticky and its harder to remove from truly intricate designs. (though I think the bears can be somewhat intricate). Have fun!
can you substitute the frozen cranberries with the cranberry sauce in can?
We haven’t tried making that way, so I would imagine it wouldn’t turn out exactly like these did. If you do decide to try it that way, be sure and update us and let us know what did and didn’t work.