Healthy Fruit Leather Roll-Ups Recipe
Posted by Gwen Watson on Aug 28, 2015
Prepackaged fruit snacks are popular snack foods, especially for kids. The downside is that they’re often made with tons of sugar and not enough fruit. This homemade version of fruit leather roll-ups solves that problem! It’s made with plenty of fresh fruit and delicately sweetened with sugar, but not as much as you’d find in the packaged versions.
Healthy Fruit Leather Roll-Ups Recipe
Adapted from the Food Network
Instructions:
- 1 ¼ pounds fresh fruit
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 200 Degrees Fahrenheit. Wash, peel, and chop the fruit. Add fruit and sugar to a blender and puree until smooth. Add the lemon juice and pulse for a few more seconds.
Add the mixture to a medium saucepan and set the heat to medium-high. Once it simmers, set the heat on low and cook, uncovered until the mixture thickens and most of the liquid evaporates. As the mixture is simmering, stir it frequently to prevent it from sticking to the pan. This can take anywhere from 35-45 minutes.
Line a 12 x 17 inch baking sheet with a silicone mat. Place the mixture onto the silicone mat, flattening it carefully into a thin layer with a rubber spatula. Bake until the mixture is still a little tacky, which should take about 3 – 3.5 hours, depending on how much moisture the fruit had in the first place.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place on a wire rack until completely cooled. Gently peel off the silicon mat. If the fruit leather is still a little moist on the underside, gently flip it back onto the mat, and return the baking sheet back to the 200 degree oven for another twenty minutes. Place on the cooling rack once again. Let it cool all the way through and then cut or tear the fruit leather into desired shapes. You may find it easiest to use a pair of sharp kitchen shears. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Variations:
Try these unique combinations the next time you make a batch of these fruit leather roll-ups!
- Raspberry – Vanilla. Blend 1 ¼ pounds fresh raspberries plus 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract together before adding the fruit puree to the saucepan.
- Strawberry – Banana. Blend together 2 medium bananas plus 3 cups hulled and chopped fresh strawberries. Prepare the rest of the recipe as outlined above.
- Apple – Ginger. Follow the recipe listed above. Core, peel, and slice 4 apples. Blend apples together with 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger root.
- Chocolate Banana. Pulse together 4 medium bananas and 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder in a blender until smooth. Add 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup in the saucepan after you add the banana puree and prepare the rest of the recipe as outlined above.
- Protein-Rich. Mix ¼ cup vanilla protein powder with ½ cup water. Add to saucepan with the fruit puree and stir well. Prepare the rest of the recipe as usual.