Make this easy 5 ingredient recipe for Crock-Pot Candy Cane Jelly and give it as gifts at the holidays to friends, family, neighbors and co-workers!
Slow Cooker Candy Cane Jelly
Who would have thought that you could make jelly from the good old fashioned candy canes!
This recipe for candy cane jelly is cooked in your slow cooker and then canned up in jars using the water bath canning method for long term food storage.
The mason jars of candy cane jelly are so pretty and would make for a fun and festive gift to give to friends, family and neighbors as Christmas gifts.
While this jelly is good on your morning toast like any good jelly is, However, I actually prefer to use this crockpot candy cane jelly either as a dip for pretzels (the chocolate covered pretzels are even more AMAZING).
And my husband likes to take a couple of big tablespoons and stir it into his vanilla or chocolate ice cream to add a lovely peppermint flavor.
This homemade candy cane jelly is unlike anything you have ever made before and I really hope you will give it a try this holiday season!
Equipment Needed For Crock-Pot Candy Cane Jelly Recipe:
- 6 Quart, 6.5 Quart Or 7 Quart Slow Cooker
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Colander
- Cheesecloth
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Dry Measuring Cups
- Large Stockpot
- Ladle
- Pint Sized Canning Jars
- Water Bath Canning Set
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe uses 1 (1.75 ounce) box of powdered pectin such as Sure Jel brand. Other brands of powdered (not liquid) pectin will work as well.
This recipe was canned in 1 pint jelly canning jars. But you could also use smaller half-pint jars.
Making your own apple juice in the slow cooker with fresh apples and water is a great way to use up fresh apples. However, if you would like to skip that step you can use 6 cups of store-bought apple juice instead.
Special Diets
Gluten Free | Low Calorie | Low Carb | Low Cholesterol | Low Fat | Low Sodium | Low Sugar | Vegan | Vegetarian
This recipe for Crock-Pot Candy Cane Jelly is Weight Watchers Friendly on the new Personal Points plan. You can see the WW personal points for this recipe here on the Weight Watchers website. Click here for MORE of our Weight Watchers Recipes
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Recipe Collections:
Crock-Pot Candy Cane Jelly Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 Large Apples (Washed And Chopped (See Note))
- 6 Cups Water
- 12 Small Candy Canes (Unwrapped And Crushed)
- 4 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 1 Box Sure Jell Powdered Pectin
Instructions
- Add apples and water to a 6 quart or larger slow cooker.
- Cover and cook until apples are mushy (about 6 to 7 hours on LOW).
- Line a colander with cheesecloth and place colander over a larger bowl and strain apple mixture. Gently squeezing the apple mixture to release as much juice as possible from the apples.
- Measure out 6 cups of the apple juice and add back into the slow cooker. Recover and cook for 1 hour on HIGH.
- Add unwrapped candy canes and sugar to the slow cooker and stir until candy canes are fully melted.
- Recover and cook for an additional 30 minutes on HIGH heat.
- Add Sur-Jell pectin and stir until dissolved.
- Transfer liquid to a large pan and cook on the stove-top on HIGH heat until mixture comes to a rolling boil.
- Test mixture on spoon to see if it gels.
- Ladle hot jelly into sterilized pint sized canning jars. Wipe rims of jars with a clean cloth and put lids and rings on jars. Screwing rings on until just finger tight.
- Process jars in a water bath canner for 5 minutes (increasing time if you are located above sea level).
Notes
Nutrition
I am trying to make this recipe. I selected a bag of red delicious apples and cooked them on low for 6 hours in my crockpot. They are currently giving up their juice. But I don’t see how I will get 6 cups of juice as their is not even 6 cups in total. Can I use regular store-bought apple juice to get me to the 6 cups? Can’t wait to try it!
My bad! I just realized I was supposed to add 6 cups of water to the apples!
It happens…trust me it happens.
I was wondering, since you didn’t say, how many jars this makes and did you use pints or jelly jars?
What type of pectin do I use? Liquid or powdered? And why size of jars?
In this recipe you will use powdered pectin and can in 8 ounce jelly jars.
mine is not clear. but pink. not a whole lot of flavor
anything I can do to fix this?
You might try adding in more candy cane to the mixture. I am not sure about the color. The pink may be due to the brand of candy canes used. But it should still be okay to eat.
I couldn’t find the small candy canes (ones that are like 2 to 3 inches) so I used 6 regular size. Is that enough or should I use all of the regular size ones? Thank you!
That should be enough.
If you use apple juice instead of cooking down the apples do you still have to pour the juice into the crockpot?
Cannot you not just put the juice and candy canes into a pot and boil until candy canes melt and have it come to a rolling boil for one minute with the pectin then add sugar and boil for another minute and can for 10 minutes (under 1000 ft of elevation)?
Thanks for reading and hopefully answering within a day or two.
Today is 9/22/21
Hey Patty, when this recipe was developed it was to use up an abundance of fresh apples from the tree. However, you can skip that step and just use apple juice.
How much apple juice do I use? Can I use gel pectin? I am having trouble finding candy canes to to supply chain shortage will starlight mints work?
6 cups of apple juice can replace the water. I’m not sure on the gel pectin. Haven’t tested the recipe using that. I’m sure starlight mints are similar enough to candy canes it would work. Just unwrap and crush, just like you would the candy canes. You will probably need to use more mints though to make up for the difference in size.
Mine comes out as a cloudy pink. Does it become transparent pink after a couple of days?
It may depend on the specific brand of candy cane. If the manufacture used any sort of whitening agent in the candy cane it may be cloudy. Traditionally candy canes are “pulled” to make the white part of the candy white. But some brands these days use whitening agents.