So what do you do with 4 apples that have seen better days and a small pint of strawberries showing their age? Make fruit leather! That's what's you do!
Inspired by a recent post on Simply Recipes, I knew just what to do with my withering fruit.
I didn't exactly follow Elise's instructions, but I was able to figure out how to create these yummy fruit strips with no problems! Make sure to visit her site for a great step-by-step post!
Here is how I made the fruit leather! I've found another great use for my rice cooker! Have fun!!
How To Make Fruit Leather
1. Peel, core, and dice the fruit you wish to use. I used 4 old apples and about 1 pint of very ripe strawberries. Next time I will try to use more fruit since my strips were thinner than I really wanted them to be!
2. I placed all the fruit in my rice cooker with about 1/4 cup of water and set it on the COOK setting for about 1 hour, or until the fruit is REALLY mushy and well done.
3. Next I mashed the fruit together with a potato masher. Once the fruit was all completely combined and mashed, I set it aside to cool for about 30 minutes.
4. Pour the cooled fruit into your blender and puree until the fruit is very, very fine like a smoothie.
5. Line a jelly-pan with plastic wrap. I sprayed the plastic wrap with non-stick spray, but I don't think this is actually necessary. Pour the pureed fruit onto the plastic wrap and spread out until about 1/8th inch thickness.
6. Turn your oven onto 150 degrees and place the pan of fruit in the oven, and leave it there forever. Really. Forever. ;-P
7. Okay, not forever, but you'll leave it there for about 8 hours, or until the fruit leather feels like those fruit-rollups that you used to love as a kid. (Except without all that terrible high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and food coloring!!! Yay!!)
8. Cut the fruit leather up into strips and serve! Enjoy!!
Have fun and let your kids help out with this!
COOKING NOTES:
- Elise felt the need to add spices and some sugar to the mashed fruit. I found this completely unnecessary. The fruit was sweet enough on it's own and the combination of strawberries and apples was delicious!
- Next time I will definitely use more fruit for a thicker fruit leather. You can find better measurements for fruits on Elise's post.