Homemade Fruit Leather

Homemade fruit leather a healthy and tasty version of a fruit-roll up! This fruit leather recipe is made with fresh fruit and a little patience, the results are delicious chewy strips of your favorite fruits.

Prep Time20

Cook Time6 30

Total Time6 50

Course: Snack, treats

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Homemade Fruit Leather

Servings: pieces

Calories: 25kcal

Author: Jessica & Nellie

Ingredients

3 lbs fresh fruit, washed and hulled/pitted, etc. {I used strawberries}
1 cup 100% fruit juice {use 1/3 cup per pound of fruit}
1-2 TBSP sugar if desired

Instructions

Cook fruit: Begin by washing the chosen fruit and remove the hull/pit/stems/etc. Slice each berry in half and place in a medium size saucepan on the stove. Then add the fruit juice and cook over medium heat until the fruit is soft. Next, add the sugar (if you'd like). I have made it with and without sugar, we loved it both ways, so I opted to leave it out. However, if your fruit is tart, adding a tablespoon or two might be good.
Blend fruit: The next step is to blend/puree the fruit until it's super smooth. You can do this in a variety of ways, depending on what kitchen gadgets you have.
*I love my immersion blender, and it works great for this- stick it in the berries and blend. It took about 10 seconds to make a smooth puree. I blended it for about a minute to make sure I got all the chunks.
*You can also transfer the fruit mixture to a blender and puree it that way.
Proceed to pour the puree onto 2 jelly roll pans lined with parchment paper. You might want to trim the paper down a bit so that the side doesn't fall into the puree. Mine did once, and that fruit never dried out.
Bake: Get the oven preheating to 170 degrees F and once at temperature, place the pans in the oven to bake. Use a wooden spoon and prop the oven door open to act as a vent during the baking process. After many tries many recipes for fruit leather, this is the step that I believe makes the most difference.
As the fruit is drying, the moisture needs somewhere to escape. Just be sure to keep any toddlers out of the kitchen or block it off with a baby gate. Bake/dry the fruit in the oven for 6-7 hours. Check it at 6 hours and see if you can peel it from the parchment paper, the fruit will still be slightly sticky. You don't want to make it crispy by cooking it too long. If it all peels up, it's done! If you still have portions that aren't cooked, put them back in the oven for another hour.
Serve: Once the fruit is done, proceed to cut it into strips before removing it from the parchment paper. Then peel the paper off. There is no need to take time to roll it with plastic wrap or wax paper or anything, just store it in an airtight container. Snack and enjoy!

Notes

Homemade fruit leather is a wonderful alternative to store bought fruit roll ups, they are healthier and taste amazing too! This fruit leather recipe is so easy to pull together, with only 3 ingredients it is inexpensive too.

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