By Guest Blogger Tabatha Harbour
Kids love fruit roll-ups but they are full of stuff that you can’t pronounce and tons of sugar. There is a way you can make them! Below is a great recipe, and not too involved either.
Prep: Pick your fruit. Anything works really, just make sure its washed and dried. You do not even need to measure! But if you need a number, you can use 3 cups of fruit for a 13x18 or 13x15 cookie sheet. Don’t worry if you have more than 3 cups, it will make the fruit leather thicker.
Make It Sweet: This is totally optional, fruit is sweet enough! If you feel the need, you can add honey, sugar, splenda or even agave syrup. All you need is about 3-4 tablespoons. If you want to spice it up, now is the time to add spices or extracts. Again, totally optional.
Puree: You may have read somewhere that you have to simmer the fruit on the stove first, but you can skip that step. So just put your cut up fruit in the food processor and puree. You want to be able to pour it, so if you find it is too thick, just add some water.
Line The Pan: You want to use good plastic wrap, not the cheap stuff. You might think it’s crazy to put plastic in the oven, but the temp is so low it doesn't melt the plastic. Be sure to trim the extra, you only want about an inch of overhang. It will shrink a little in the oven. Do not make it tight, meaning do not tuck it around the edges, just leave it hanging out.
Spread The Mixture: Using a spatula, spread the fruit evening, keeping it away from the edges of the pan. It should be thin enough to pour but thick enough that you can make it stay put where you want it.
Cook: Use the lowest setting on your oven. For some that is 170 and others it is 140. Either is fine, it will just cook a little faster at 170. This part takes the longest, 6-8 hours. This is not set in stone, so if you want to leave the house, just turn the oven off and leave the door closed. It will continue to dry. Same thing for at night, leave it on until you go to bed, then turn oven off and back on when you get up. You can test the leather, but test the middle. When it does not stick to your finger or leave an indent, its done. The edges might seem to cook faster and possibly look too dry and crispy, you can either cut them off later or spread some water to re-hydrate them. You can even save the entire pan if its too dry by doing the same thing and just let it re-hydrate again.
Done: You do not have to wait until they are completely cooled to peel off the plastic wrap, it should be easy. You can roll them one of two ways: you can use the plastic wrap (before peeling off) and use a pizza cutter to cut into strips or you can place the entire leather on parchment paper and slice and roll the same way.
Enjoy! You may find you will making a lot of these once the kids get their hands on them (or you, because they are that good and good for you). It’s not a hard snack to make, just take some time to dry the fruit the way it should be dried.
Kids love fruit roll-ups but they are full of stuff that you can’t pronounce and tons of sugar. There is a way you can make them! Below is a great recipe, and not too involved either.
Prep: Pick your fruit. Anything works really, just make sure its washed and dried. You do not even need to measure! But if you need a number, you can use 3 cups of fruit for a 13x18 or 13x15 cookie sheet. Don’t worry if you have more than 3 cups, it will make the fruit leather thicker.
Make It Sweet: This is totally optional, fruit is sweet enough! If you feel the need, you can add honey, sugar, splenda or even agave syrup. All you need is about 3-4 tablespoons. If you want to spice it up, now is the time to add spices or extracts. Again, totally optional.
Puree: You may have read somewhere that you have to simmer the fruit on the stove first, but you can skip that step. So just put your cut up fruit in the food processor and puree. You want to be able to pour it, so if you find it is too thick, just add some water.
Line The Pan: You want to use good plastic wrap, not the cheap stuff. You might think it’s crazy to put plastic in the oven, but the temp is so low it doesn't melt the plastic. Be sure to trim the extra, you only want about an inch of overhang. It will shrink a little in the oven. Do not make it tight, meaning do not tuck it around the edges, just leave it hanging out.
Spread The Mixture: Using a spatula, spread the fruit evening, keeping it away from the edges of the pan. It should be thin enough to pour but thick enough that you can make it stay put where you want it.
Cook: Use the lowest setting on your oven. For some that is 170 and others it is 140. Either is fine, it will just cook a little faster at 170. This part takes the longest, 6-8 hours. This is not set in stone, so if you want to leave the house, just turn the oven off and leave the door closed. It will continue to dry. Same thing for at night, leave it on until you go to bed, then turn oven off and back on when you get up. You can test the leather, but test the middle. When it does not stick to your finger or leave an indent, its done. The edges might seem to cook faster and possibly look too dry and crispy, you can either cut them off later or spread some water to re-hydrate them. You can even save the entire pan if its too dry by doing the same thing and just let it re-hydrate again.
Done: You do not have to wait until they are completely cooled to peel off the plastic wrap, it should be easy. You can roll them one of two ways: you can use the plastic wrap (before peeling off) and use a pizza cutter to cut into strips or you can place the entire leather on parchment paper and slice and roll the same way.
Enjoy! You may find you will making a lot of these once the kids get their hands on them (or you, because they are that good and good for you). It’s not a hard snack to make, just take some time to dry the fruit the way it should be dried.