These sugar free sour cherry cola gummies taste just like the real thing! Make them a solid colour, or be extra & do bicoloured- Super cute AND high in protein!
Pretty much all of the commercially available gummies are super expensive AND made with things like maltitol syrup.
Which, you know, may be great if you’re a bit backed up... but don’t really make them a great option for generally snacking. (If you know, YOU KNOW!).
Plus, even if I wasn’t one of the people who knew the “joys” of maltitol, there’s the matter of variety.
Have you ever seen a keto sour gummy? Or anything beyond just gummy bears and gummy worms? The few cool choices out there are REALLY expensive!
So, I decided to make my own, from the ground up.
These sugar-free sour cola gummies are loaded with protein, AND with a good amount of collagen!
Is it candy, or is it a supplement? Who knows - but you can eat them by the handful with basically no worries!
They may not have the sour sugar coating that we’re all used to, but they definitely have the flavour down. Really, that’s all that matters, right?
Anyway, less talk, more... talk about actually making the recipe, I guess?
Let’s get to it.
Ingredients
Due to my specifications for this recipe - a “cleaner” sweetener, high protein content, customized flavour, etc - this recipe takes a few specialty ingredients that you may not be able to find in grocery stores.
They’re easy enough to find online, though!
Some notes for you:
Sweetener
After a year of using a monk fruit / erythritol blend, I’ve switched to using Allulose Sweetener, specifically Granular Allulose.
This is for a few reasons:
1. It does not crystallize the way erithritol does, which means smoother gummies and less fussing.
2. It doesn’t have that weird cooling sensation that erythritol does. While that works fine for minty flavoured things, it would just feel weird with these gummies.
3. There’s been some concerning studies on erythritol lately. That’s less of an issue, IMHO... but figures I should mention it.
Note: Allulose isn’t really available in Canada, so I order it from the US Amazon site, and have it shipped to my USA address, with Shippsy.
Shippsy is a great service - they give you a free US address, and you have your purchases mailed there. They bring the packages up to Canada for a few bucks each (I think $5-6, usually), plus whatever duties may be involved, when applicable.
Then you either go pick the items up from whichever location you request, or have them mailed to you... from within Canada, at Canadian prices.
It’s a slick system, and has allowed me to get all kinds of ingredients and tools that either aren’t available in Canada, or cost 4x as much here.
Collagen Peptides
I add Collagen Peptides to these gummies, as a way to boost the protein content.
Collagen is generally a good thing to supplement with - it is purported to do great things for your bones, hair, skin, joints, etc. It’s colorless and tasteless, usually mixed into drinks.
In this case, it disappears completely into the gummy candies.
I use Vital Protein's Collagen Peptides, and that brand is what the nutritional info in the recipe card is based on.
Gelatin
Gelatin is what turns the liquid into a chewy solid.
I use Unflavored Beef Gelatin Powder, which I buy in 1 lb containers.
I make a LOT of protein gummies (and use gelatin in other recipes), so I go through a lot of the stuff.
Knox gelatin is great, but those little envelopes can get expensive - buying it bulk is much better for me!
Whatever you end up using, just be sure it’s an unflavored product. Beefy tasting sour cherry cola gummies... don’t sound all that tasty, IMHO!
Flavour Oils
You need two different flavours for this recipe - cola and cherry.
I designed this recipe to use Lorann Cola Super Strong Flavor Oil and Lorann Cherry Super Strength Flavor Oil.
When it came time to make them, though, I realized I was out of the cherry. I was able to get some Watkins Cherry Extract on short notice though, and it worked well!
Note: it DOES smell exactly like cough syrup, but when it’s mixed with the cola flavor, that goes away.
Citric Acid
Citric Acid is what gives these gummies their characteristic sour flavour.
In mainstream retail gummies, sour gummies are usually coated in a mixture of sugar and citric acid.
When it comes to homemade gummies, these alternative sugars tend to “melt” when I try to do it that way, so I just mix the citric acid right into the gummy itself. Much cleaner and easier way of doing it, in this case!
As a note: If you’d like to make regular cherry cola gummies, rather than sour... you’re still going to want to use ½ teaspoon of citric acid in the batch. It just brightens up the flavour and makes it taste “right”.
Also acts as a bit of a preservative!
Food Coloring
This recipe uses either one or two colours of gel food colouring.
If you’re doing a single colour, really, you can do whatever colour you want - I usually go with Red Gel Food Coloring.
If you want to do the fun, 2 coloured bottles like I did, you’ll also want some Brown Gel Food Coloring.
Gel food coloring is more intense than liquid food coloring, and mixes in much better than paste food coloring. HIGHLY recommend it!
You can generally find them in cake decorating supply stores, large craft supply chains like Joann and Michaels, and through Amazon.
Equipment
For starters, you’ll need a small pot and a whisk - I like to use a Sauce & Gravy Whisk, to prevent the gelatin mixture from burning on the bottom of the pan.
Beyond that, you’ll need Silicone Gummy Candy Molds.
I like to stay close to the source material on this, and use Bottle Shaped Gummy Molds. There are a few options available, I used This Set of Bottle Shaped Gummy Molds.
Not feeling like fussing with gummy molds?
Pour it all into a 9 x 12 pan, let it set, then cut it up from there. Super easy!
How to Make Sugar Free Sour Cherry Cola Gummies
The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is the visual walk through!
In a small pot, whisk together the sweetener, collagen, and gelatin. Be sure to FULLY combine it, or you’ll end up with lumps.
Add water, whisk to combine.
Heat over medium heat, until everything is smooth and dissolved. Remove from heat.
For Solid Colour Bottles:
Stir in gel food colouring of choice. Add flavour oils and citric acid, stir well to dissolve.
Use a dropper to fill the gummy mold cavities with the gelatin mixture.
For 2 Colour Molds
Before getting started, arrange your bottle molds on a cookie sheet, with all of the bottle “tops” facing the same way.
Prop the other end - “bottom” of the bottles - of the cookie sheet up a bit. I usually use whatever is handy in my kitchen - sometimes a bowl.
I used a bag of keto bannock baking mix to hold it at a steep angle, this time!
After mixing the water into the dry ingredients, use red food colouring to tint the mixture as pink or red as you like.
Once the mixture is smooth and everything is dissolved, add flavour oils and citric acid, stir well.
I like to set it at a steep enough angle that the very top of the bottle gets filled to the top of the mold with red gummy mixture, and extends halfway down the bottle.
For clear, distinct colours, you want the red gummy to set completely before proceeding. If it’s liquid at all, the colours will run.
Once set, warm the remaining gelatin mixture, then stir in some brown food colouring.
Set the cookie sheet on a flat surface - NOT raising one end of the sheet up - and use a dropper to fill each of the cavities with brown gelatin mixture.
Once all the cavities are full, you can pipe any remaining mixture into separate molds, or into a small silicone baking pan to set up.
Always have an extra mold on hand for leftover gummy mixture!
Either Way:
Allow filled molds to sit at room temperature until set, or transfer to the fridge for faster setting.
Once set, pop candies out of the mold and transfer to an airtight container or zipper baggie. Will keep for a few days at room temperature, and a week or so if refrigerated.
This is just a cosmetic thing, and optional.
More Keto Candy Recipes
Looking for more low carb, sugar-free ways to satisfy your sweet tooth? I've got you!
High Protein Sugar Free Gummies
Homemade BCAA Gummies
Keto Cream Cheese Mints
Sugar-Free Gummy Frogs
Sugar Free Bananas Foster Truffles
Keto Chocolate Truffles
Sugar Free Salty Black Licorice Gummies
Sugar-Free Sour Jubes
Sugar Free Sour Peach Gummies
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Sugar Free Sour Cherry Cola Gummies [Keto & High Protein]
Equipment
- 1 Small pot
- 1 Set of Bottle Shaped Gummy Molds
- 1 Dropper
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cold Water
- ⅔ cup Sweetener I used granulated allulose
- 4 scoops Collagen Peptides
- ⅓ cup Unflavored Gelatin
- 1 ½ teaspoon Lorann Cola Flavor Oil
- ½ teaspoon Lorann Cherry Flavour Oil
- 2 ½ teaspoon Citric Acid
- Red and Brown Gel Food Coloring
Instructions
- In a small pot, whisk together the sweetener, collagen, and gelatin. Be sure to FULLY combine it, or you’ll end up with lumps.
- Add water, whisk to combine.
- Heat over medium heat, until everything is smooth and dissolved. Remove from heat.
- Add flavour oils and citric acid, stir well to dissolve.
- For Solid Colour Bottles:
- Stir in gel food colouring of choice, then use a dropper to fill the gummy mold cavities with the gelatin mixture.
- For 2 Colour Molds
- Before getting started, arrange your bottle molds on a cookie sheet, with all of the bottle “tops” facing the same way.
- Prop the other end - “bottom” of the bottles - of the cookie sheet up a bit. I use a measuring cup.
- After adding flavour oils and citric acid, use red food colouring to tint the mixture as pink or red as you like.
- Use a dropper to drop a small amount of the gelatin mixture into the top half of the molds, only allowing it to come halfway down the mold length, at an angle.
- I like to set it at a steep enough angle that the very top of the bottle gets filled to the top of the mold with red gummy mixture, and extends halfway down the bottle (see photos in post).
- For clear, distinct colours, you want the red gummy to set completely before proceeding. If it’s liquid at all, the colours will run.
- Once set, warm the remaining gelatin mixture, then stir in some brown food colouring.
- Set the cookie sheet on a flat surface - NOT raising one end of the sheet up - and use a dropper to fill each of the cavities with brown gelatin mixture.
- Either Way:
- Allow filled molds to sit at room temperature until set, or transfer to the fridge for faster setting.
Notes
Nutrition
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