Fruit Leather

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Is anyone else out there swimming in fruit these days?  We went peach picking last weekend and went a little overboard.  We've been eating peaches, freezing peaches, baking peaches, and canning peaches, so we decided to also make some fruit leather!  It was really easy, it just took a long time to fully dry.  Of course if you have a dehydrator, this is faster, but you can just as easily do it in the oven, as we did.  Just set it as low as it can go, and give it a good 6-8 hrs to do its thing.  You can do it overnight, or even do a few hours at a time if you need to run an errand and don't want to leave the oven on.  Just keep the door closed in between.  

Be sure to spread it evenly or you'll end up with half not done and half peach crisps - not that I'd know or anything. :)  We made two kinds - peach and peach raspberry, but you can experiment with all sorts of other fruits and combinations.  We're excited to eat these in the winter when fresh fruit isn't so abundant.

Fruit Leather

For the peach-raspberry, I did about a cup of raspberries and the rest peaches.  In all batches, I only added about a teaspoon or two of honey, not much at all.  If doing peaches, peel them before you chop them.  The easiest way to do this is to stick them in boiling water for 40-60 seconds, then into ice water, and then the peels just slip off (assuming the peaches are ripe).

3 1/2 c. chopped fruit

honey, to taste

Preheat oven as low as it will go - mine was 170.  Line an 11x17 baking sheet with a silicon baking mat if you have one, or parchment paper if you don't.  The silicon mats worked perfectly!  The parchment worked as well, but it wasn't quite as easy to get it off.

Puree fruit in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Pour fruit mixture onto prepared baking sheet and spread to about 1/8" thick.

(I did several batches at once - the glass pan did not work well, stick to the cookie sheet/jelly roll pan!)

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake 6-8 hours, until pan is set and the center is not tacky.  Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature.  Gently peel off the mat and slice into rectangles or long strips for fruit roll-ups.  If doing roll-ups, roll them in parchment paper to prevent sticking.  Store in an air-tight container for a month or so, or the freezer for longer.  I froze most of mine and plan on taking them out in a few months.