Fruit Leathers - From Laura at Heavenly Homemakers
Apple Fruit Leathers
1 C homemade applesauce, unspiced
Peach Fruit Leathers
1 can sliced peaches in 100% juice or light syrup
(or you can use fresh peaches + a little bit of water)
You will also need:
blender
parchment paper
cookie sheet
oven
I took about 1 C of homemade applesauce, before the spices were added, and pureed it in my blender to remove the chunks.
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Then, I spread it on greased parchment paper atop a cookie sheet. I tried to spread it about 1/8 inch thick... but I might have spread it too thin. Laura's look much better. But, they tasted great, even if they were a bit thin. I've learned to spread the center thinner than the outside edges... keep those thick, as they cook faster.
I baked the fruit at 200 degrees for 1-3 hours... the baking process takes much longer if the fruit spread is thicker. Keep checking the leathers, because the edges may be done earlier than the center. No problem, take out the leathers and tear off the edges and return to baking until the leathers are done.
I'm not sure how long you can store these... but I've had luck keeping them in our pantry for a couple of months... not that they usually last that long around here, but occassionally they'll get burried under something, and months later they still taste fresh. Num.
Some other possible combinations you might want to try:
- Apple, Pear and Peach
- Blueberry (and cinnamon)
- Cherry (and cinnamon)
- Apple, Cherry and Blueberry
- Lemon and Blueberry
- Cranberry and Apple (cook the cranberries with a bit of sugar first)
- Peach and Strawberry
- Peach and Cherry
- Pear and Apple
- Raspberry and Pear
- Add OJ to any fruit leather that needs more liquid to get to the "applesauce" consistency
How thick do you spread it? Did you use canned peaches in syrup? I just found out I have gestational diabetes, so I am looking for ways to increase fiber and fruits without much effort.
ReplyDeleteI made this tonight. It stuck pretty badly to the parchment. I was able to peel most of it off and it tasted good, but wasn't 'gummy' like a fruit roll-up. Did I overcook it?
ReplyDelete@ Holly L-B:
ReplyDeleteMine have never really been gummy -- I think the fruit spread needs to be thicker to get that to happen, but I don't have that much patience to leave it in the oven that long ;-)
I have found that I need to spray the parchment paper with olive oil or something to prevent it from sticking -- and I remove it from the oven when it's no longer sticky to the touch. I remove the outer-edges first because they tend to get dry faster than the center.
Hope that helps!