Fruit Leather

Did you know you can make fruit roll-ups at home? With no added sugar, no preservatives, and for a fraction of the cost! Actually, I don't know about that, but the first two sold me. :)

I got this recipe from the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. She says you can puree any type of fruit and then dry it to make fruit leather - she lists several delicious combinations like strawberry/banana, or peach/mango...mmmm. :) Then she gives the easy (well, even easier!) recipes. And this is where I come in! :)

The first batch of fruit leather I made was strawberry - I thawed out a bag of frozen strawberries (sun-sweetened, no sugar added), pureed them in the blender, and poured them onto a cookie sheet. I tried to make sure the puree was evenly spread on the cookie sheet, but it was hard. Then I cooked the puree at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, and then turned the oven off and let the puree dry. It took about 8-10 hours for the edges to dry, and the middle never did - I ended up throwing it away a couple of days later. So either I did something wrong...I don't know. But the parts that did dry are delicious! And so natural!

Then I made apple fruit leather, using a half a jar of applesauce - I just poured it onto a cookie sheet and dried it just like the pureed strawberries. It dried about as well as the strawberry, actually the edges got a little burnt. :( And then I left the middle in to see if it would dry, but the next day I turned the oven on, forgetting it was in there, until I smelled burnt applesauce. So I don't know if it dried overnight or not. :)

There are other methods of drying in your oven, but they require you to leave the oven door open while it's hot, which I can't really do with Zachary around.So if anybody has any tips on drying, or any experience with fruit leather, I'd really appreciate any help! :) Even with the drying issues, however, this fruit leather is a delicious snack. I will definitely make it again! :)