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12 healthy homemade candy recipes

Making homemade candy is fun, delicious and easy. These 12 recipes will get you started.

By Kimi HarrisTue, Oct 18 2011 at 12:08 PM EST
 12

Picture of homemade candy bar Photos: Kimi Harris
Robin shared some wonderful choices for healthier organic candy for Halloween last week. It made me long for candy myself! I thought I'd share 12 recipes for homemade candies that everyone can enjoy. Some of these recipes are candy bars, some are great to serve at parties, and others make perfect additions to lunch pails. Better yet, the recipes can be surprisingly simple and healthy!
 
The following recipes use unrefined sweeteners and high quality ingredients. It’s candy you can feel good about feeding your family. With these around, your children will thank you and you can satisfy your own sweet tooth on something more nutritious as well as delicious. Just be careful with the couple of recipes that call for making a sticky syrup out of honey or maple syrup. I use my back burner and make sure all children are out of the kitchen as it can cause serious sugar burns.
 
1. Mock Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: I created this recipe for my then 3-year-old daughter. They were an instant hit with both her and her friends.
 
2. The Easiest, Healthiest, Most Scrumptious Fudge Ever: The title says it all. This fudge is so much easier to make than traditional fudge and much healthier, too. I've made it with the more common sweetener, honey, with great results as well.
 
3. Nature’s Candy Bar (pictured at top): I called these Nature's Candy Bar because they feature dates, which are rich in natural sugar. A chocolate coating doesn't hurt either.
 
4. Candy Bar: This chocolate-covered candy bar looks amazing! I would recommend simply substituting the agave syrup in this recipe and the next with the less refined sweetener, honey.
 
5. Mock Mounds Bar: Mounds bars used to be my favorite candy bar. Now I can have a a healthier version guilt-free.
 
 
6. Cracker Toffee (pictured above): My daughter and I made this super easy recipe last year as part of our Christmas candy platter. They are rich, delicious and so easy.
 
7. Old-Fashioned Caramel Corn: I adapted my husband's favorite caramel corn recipe from his younger years to only include unrefined sweeteners (no corn syrup here!) It is a certain favorite at parties.
 
8. Caramel Apples: This recipe uses cream and honey to create a rich caramel coating for apples. It's perfect for this time of year.
 
9. Dairy-Free Caramel Apples: This recipe doesn't use any dairy but a combination of honey and maple syrup. How delicious does that sound?
 
10. Honey-Sweetened Dark Chocolate Macadamia Nuts: These make a very special gift, and very yummy snacking.
 
11. Maple Magic Candy: All you need for this recipe is maple syrup. If you've ever had maple syrup candy before, you know how amazing it is.
 
 
12. Decadent Chocolate "Larabar" Truffles: (pictured above): These truffles were inspired by Larabars, but morphed into truffles; perfect as an afternoon pick-me-up.
 
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Related Topics: Halloween, Healthy Eating, Raising Healthy Kids, Recipes

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anonymous
Dori 10/22/2011 10:01 AM

I've made that cracker toffee a lot. It is really good, and crazy that's it made with crackers!

anonymous
Abby 10/22/2011 00:37 AM

Does anyone have any substitutes for agave? I seem to have a reaction to it but I adore mounds bars.

Oh, and a special thanks for the maple sugar candy recipe. I love those and have always wanted to make them but couldn't seem to find a recipe.

anonymous
Melanie 10/21/2011 17:03 PM

Hi, do you have the nutritional value for any of these recipes? I'd like to try the peanut butter cups.

anonymous
Anonymous 10/23/2011 05:20 AM

I use this website to calculate nutritional value: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp You can enter the ingredients and it will calculate the same type of information you get on back of store packages.

anonymous
Brandi Duffy 10/21/2011 13:35 PM

i think i'll be making the pb cups...for myself (sans the honey). they look delicious. who needs kids to hand out candy to when you have yourself, someone with a self-proclaimed "worst sweet tooth on the planet"? at this rate, i'm happy to still have my teeth.

anonymous
cinge 10/27/2011 10:32 AM

I tried the PB cup recipe with Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter and they are AMAZING! You should definitely try them! Here's my amended recipe with the Justin's Chocolate PB!

http://betweenyourearsblog.com/2011/10/27/homemade-peanut-butter-cups/

anonymous
Tleaf 10/21/2011 11:51 AM

What's "healthy" about these recipes? They are all just sugar in one form or another, and are no better for your health than any storebought candy. I'm not saying don't make them; I'm just saying, why not call a treat a treat?

anonymous
Brandi Duffy 10/21/2011 13:36 PM

Good point about "healthy"....maybe the better way to present: If you're going to enjoy candy and treats, go this route instead of the preservative/inferior products that are store-brought moments. Better to enjoy every calorie!

anonymous
Kimi Harris 10/21/2011 12:34 PM

Hi Tleaf,

That's a good question. There are a couple of reasons I consider these "candies" healthier, but still certainly a treat. First, they are lower in sugar (natural or otherwise). Most candies have very high sugar amounts. These, for the most part, do not. In fact, that is something to keep in mind when you make these recipes as several of them are so low in sweeteners, it might be not quite sweet enough for those used to eating regular candy bars.

Secondly, except.... More

anonymous
Brenda Bruce 10/20/2011 22:59 PM

Where are the recipes for the candies pictured? I couldn't find them anywhere.

Tarrant
Tarrant 10/21/2011 08:32 AM

The blue text is a link. Click the blue text for the recipes you want to see. (and welcome)

Tarrant
~mnn staff

anonymous
Celtic.Ravens 10/21/2011 00:13 AM

Hi ~

Click on the name of the candy (in blue) you'd like to make & the recipe will open.

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