sprinklefingers

i’ve been spending crazy amounts of time in the kitchen attempting to master the weirdest food items. my most recent conquest? fruit leather.

my kid goes to this pretend school once a week. they call it a school, but it’s really like sending him to a babysitter with 7 other kids for 4 hours. they sing songs, they play with babies and shopping carts. and they eat lunch together.

this last part, the part about eating lunch, is what excites me the most. it means i get to pack him a lunch…which i love doing. packed lunches are always different than the lunches he eats at home. a typical at-home lunch features at least 1/4 of an entire watermelon and a few cups of yogurt (in addition to his daily pb & j sandwich, apple slices and occasional pretzels.) but i never pack watermelon or yogurt in the school lunch. too messy. too much work. he’s so focused on playing that he’ll never spend the time it takes eat something requiring utensils.

but i still want him to eat fruit. and so - why not work on a recipe for fruit leather? yes, most people would just buy the stuff, but i love a challenge. and i’m completely crazy.

lunch box fruit leather
method borrowed from river cottage preserves

you need:

• 1 pound berries - strawberries, blackberries or raspberries (thawed if frozen.)
• 6 oz stone fruit - nectarines, peaches or any variety of plum/pluot. (you can leave the skins on or remove them - your choice.)
• juice from one lemon or orange
• honey to taste (at least 3 T)

to prepare:

1. preheat oven to 170-200 degrees.
2. prepare fruit by rinsing and drying. pit the nectarines/peaches and slice the fruit.
3. put berries & fruit in your best blender with the orange/lemon juice and honey.
4. blend like crazy until the mixture is cohesive and pourable. 
5. line a sheet tray (approximately18”x13”) with parchment paper. be sure the paper comes up all 4 sides of the tray.
6. pour the fruit mixture into the tray, spreading & tapping to ensure it’s spread evenly and completely.
7. put tray in oven.
8. bake the fruit leather for 3-5 hours, longer depending upon moisture in fruit, your oven, the humidity, the thickness of your fruit puree, etc.
9. after two hours, begin checking on the fruit leather. since it’s easy to burn the edges, you’ll want to monitor the temperature as best you can. if you notice that the edges are cooking much faster than the center, lower the oven temperature. it takes practice to get a happy medium between non-crispy edges and completely cooked center, but it’s not difficult.
10. let cook until dried to the touch. not crispy dried, but where you can touch it and fruit puree doesn’t stick to your fingertips. this could take 5 hours or more.

a good test for doneness is the peel test: holding the parchment in one hand and fruit leather in the other, attempt to peel the paper away from the leather. if it peels, you’re done. if it is still sticky, don’t fret. just smooth the leather back onto the paper and continue baking. don’t forget to check on it often.

storage:

if properly wrapped, your fruit leather will keep for at least a month.

to wrap:

1. after cooling, remove the fruit leather from the sheet tray by lifting out the parchment. using a pizza cutter, cut the leather into slices lengthwise.
2. cut strips of wax paper a bit longer than your sheet tray and a bit wider than your fruit leather strips.
3. using careful fingers, peel up a strip of fruit leather and lay it on the prepared wax paper.
4. roll the fruit leather on the wax paper into tight rolls. secure with a bit of tape or a rubber band.
5. store your rolls in an air tight container.
6. pack fruit leather into lunches.