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Halloween Vegan Eyeball Candy

on 2 Comments on Halloween Vegan Eyeball Candy

This post is also available in: Nederlands (Dutch)

It is October and that means Halloween is coming! And sometimes I’m just really unlucky and so my tiny microwave-oven, who helped me baking for 2 years, multiple times a week, died unfortunately… but that didn’t keep me from making something sweet!

With Halloween knocking on our doors a little to none, gelatin free/ vegan Halloween candy anywhere, I just started my own experiment. So no oven bakings, but a complete new challenge!

The candy has a base of Agar Agar, this is not as chewy as gelatin unfortunately, but it is plant-based!

And if you are going to experiment with something, then why not make it extra fun! That is why I made really bloody eyeball candy, and when you bite in those “blood” is dripping out!

Things you should keep in mind when making these:

– Agar Agar already sets at room temperature, when pouring in the mixtures we are going to layer them on top of each other, make sure the layers aren’t set completely when pouring on the next layer, otherwise the layers won’t stick, and you get these loose layers.

– Agar Agar tends to differ from strength, depending on which brand you use, I used the brand of Holland & Barrett, but just check the label for the ratio of liquid and powder before you use it.

– When you use gelatin it can stay good for days, but Agar Agar looses its strength to bind after about to 2 days and will slowly fall apart after, so make sure you don’t make it to far ahead of time.

– You will have some leftovers after making these eyeballs, you can either use it to make more or just use it for something else.

– I used Citric Acid for sourness in the candy, you can use lemon juice if you can’t get it where you live, but keep in mind that the ratio Agar Agar and juice could influence each other.

– You can find those round silicone molds on Amazon in different sizes, I used 4,5cm in diameter.

Ingredients:

“This recipe is for 6 eyeballs”

necessities:
Silicone mold little mold (max 2,5cm diameter) for example, a mold for chocolates or little ice cubes.
Silicone mold spheres (4,5cm diameter).

Filling:

  • 1 jar of cherries on syrup 350ml
  • 4 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp citric acid
  • 3 tsp cornstarch

Eyeball:

  • 350ml plant-based milk (I used coconut because it’s the most white)
  • 5 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp citric acid
  • 2 tsp Agar Agar

Iris and pupil:

  • 2 tbsp cherry juice
  • ¼ tsp Agar Agar
  • 6 blue berries

Preparation:

  1. Take a few spoons of cherry juice out of the jar (about half a shot glass) and put it aside.

  2. For the filling pour the cherries including the syrup in a pan and add the sugar, citric acid and cornstarch. Stir really well so the cornstarch is doesn’t clump together. Put on the heat and it will thicken up while stirring. Make sure it becomes as thick as something like molasses.

    Pour it in a tiny silicone mold (I used a mold for chocolates, as long as the diameter is not larger then 2,5 cm every kind of silicone mold will do fine!) and put it in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

  3. For the eyeball we will do almost the same. Pour the milk, sugar, citric acid and the Agar Agar in a pan, keep stirring until it starts to simmer and then keep stirring after that for about a minute until all the Agar Agar has dissolved. You can check this by checking if there are still little cloudy specks on your spatula.
    Put on a lid and turn off the heat.

  4. Take the little shot glass with the few spoons of juice and put ¼ of Agar Agar in. Stir really well and put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Keep your eye on it and open the door if it starts to boil, stir well and put it back in. Repeat until the 30 are over.

  5. Ready your round mold and put in a little drop of the red mixture in each half of the sphere and lay in a blueberry right after! The red mixture cools down really quickly in such a small amount and so stiffens up really quickly.

  6. Get the white mixture out of the pan and fill the spheres until half really carefully. (if you pour it in to rough the red mixture will come loose) Take the frozen syrup out of the freezer and lay them carefully in the still warm white “milk” mixture. Try to balance them on the blueberries. Lock the other half of the silicone spheres on it and fill the rest of the spheres with the white mixture so it will form into eyeballs.

  7. You can leave them to cool on room temperature or put them in the fridge until they are fully cooled and set.

  8. You’ll probably will have a little bit of left over from the red and the cherry mixture. Agar Agar can be heated up again, so if it stiffens up already you can heat it up again and use it for more eyeballs!