Home Made Fruit Leather
There is a great little corner market near my home the has the freshest fruit. The one downside to really fresh fruit is that it needs to be eaten asap. Since we have a very small household it can be a challenge to eat all the fruit while still fresh. My usual "go to" has been freezing the extra to use for smoothies, but I came across a super easy fruit leather recipe that I adapted and found an extremely fun and tasty way to use berries. A throw back to fruit rollups from when I was a child, with the exception of all those preservatives.
Ingredients:
Approximately 3 cups fresh berries (My preference is strawberries and raspberries)
1-1 tablespoons sugar to taste (Based on the tartness of fruit and personal preference)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Directions:
Set your over to the lowest temperature (generally 170 degrees) and cover two large baking trays with parchment paper. Throw all ingredients together in your food processor and blend until a smooth and all chunks have disappeared. Pour evenly onto the parchment paper and smooth evenly, about 1/2 inch think, and place in the oven. It takes approximately between 4 and 6 hours until they are dry, until they no longer have any spots that are gooey. Use a kitchen knife to cut into strips, cutting size to preference. When they first come out I found the edges can be dry, leaving just the center to be the great soft yet strong texture of the fruit leather you can buy in the store. Please the rollups in an air tight tupperware and it will not only help them to last longer, but will allow any hard edges to soften up and match the center texture. If you wish you can roll the strips, with the parchment still attached, and use a rubber band (or ribbon if you want a cute presentation) to keep it in the rolled.