Copycat Fainting Fancies

Harry Potter week continues in the Starving Chef’s kitchen!

Every year for the better part of a decade, I have transfigured my kitchen into the halls of Hogwarts to recreate my favorite fanciful feasts and treats that can be found throughout the wizarding world.

Such concoctions that caught my attention were Fred and George Weasley’s Skiving Snackboxes – magical candies that were charmed to get the consumer a temporary ailment such as puking, a nosebleed, a quick fever… and even fainting.

You can actually find Skiving Snackboxes at the real life Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. I just so happened to grab a box on my latest trip to Universal and decided to keep the box and a few of the candies – specifically to recreate them for Muggles at home!

✨We’ll Take the Lot✨

Skiving Snackboxes were double ended candies designed by Fred an George to give the consumer enough of an illness to be excused from class – after which the second part of the candy would be consumed to cure the temporary ailment.

While I designed my copycat versions to be easy enough for any Muggle to recreate at home, you can occasionally buy the pre-boxed varieties of individual candy packages (affiliate link) without any fuss.

Making the EASIEST Gummies Ever

It’s just like magic! For this recipe, I took inspiration from the Food Hacker to make my gummies in the microwave – an invention that surely would have stumped Mr. Weasley. The Food Hacker explains the actual magic behind the science for why this method works, so pop over to their page for the full potions lesson.

I was skeptical at first but YES you can make gummies that are suuuuper close to store bought taste and texture with just some Jell-O, corn syrup, citric acid, gelatin and a microwave.

And gummy molds, of course.

It sounds like a lot, but you would be surprised how easy it is to find most of these ingredients at your typical grocery store or hobby shop.

The fainting fancies that you can buy from the Wizarding World at Universal are dual flavored – half lemon and half orange. To achieve this in real life, simply make a batch of lemon gummies and a batch of orange gummies, cut in half and then press the opposite halves together.

Not to sugar coat it (or I actually will here in a minute) but it’s a lot of gummy to eat so I just stuck with ONE flavor for my gummies. But totally whip up whatever magic you feel is best for your taste buds!

What You Need to Make Microwave Gummies

Thanks to Food Hacker, this magical adaption can be brought to life with simple ingredients in just minutes (minus the setting time!). I’ve tweaked their recipe a bit to make the gummies extra large!

• fruit flavored gelatin – the ones from the real life Wizarding World are orange and lemon flavored
• unflavored gelatin – this will help make the gummies extra chewy and firm
• citric acid – adds a bit of sourness to counteract the sweetness
• corn syrup – essential to re-creating the texture of a gummy candy
• water – to melt everything together
• sugar – for tossing the candies to remove their outside stickiness

You will also need access to a microwave and microwave-safe measuring cups or bowls. I don’t recommend using any plastic measuring cups, despite how microwave-safe they claim to be. You will have the most success (and no chance of plastic melting) with glass or ceramic!

How to Make Gummies in the Microwave

In order to make the gummies, first you must let the Jell-O and gelatin bloom in cool water. After a few minutes, it will be quadupled in size and ready to work with.

After that, it is just a matter of mixing in the corn syrup and microwaving in 30 second intervals up to two minutes. I found that going up to about 3 minutes was needed to really get my gelatin liquid super clear.

The liquid will be INCREDIBLY HOT and will bubble as you stir so make sure you practice all proper potions training while making this concoction!

After that, I let the hot liquid cool for a few minutes before pouring it into the round molds I had prepped. The longer the liquid has to cool at room temperature, the more time there will be for any trapped bubbles to make their way to the surface. Once the gummies are room temperature, they can be transferred to the fridge to finish chilling. When they are set after a few hours, they can be tossed in a mix of sugar and citric acid and sliced in half and combined with other flavors.

Beyond that – letting the gummies air dry to toughen up is up to your personal preference on how you prefer your gummies. I popped mine out of the molds and let them air dry for 48-72 hours for an extra chewy gummy!

How Does the Copycat Measure Up to Fred & George’s Fainting Fancies?

Well to be fair, the samples I had from Universal were not exactly fresh out of the box. In fact, these candies were probably closer to 2 years old at the time of writing this post! So colors may not be exact and I definitely didn’t do any recent taste testing (I gave them a quick lick!). However, I did try them when I first bought them so I have a bit of something to reference from.

Honestly – I prefer mine! They were bigger, chewier, bouncier – and definitely more flavorful! While Universals’ definitely have a more “magically manufactured” taste to them, mine were more like an extra chewy Jell-O flavored gummy bear.

Mischief Managed!