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Fruit leather inspiration!

It dawned on me today while I munched on a tasty fruit leather strip I bought in a bulk pack at Costco that we should make our own! I have been attempting to empty the freezer of all its contents via creative diners, meals and smoothies for the last month and I have a HUGE amount of blackberries and strawberries from last years crop staring at me every time I open the door. So...Forrest, my oldest son at 8 years of age and I are going to attempt strawberry and blackberry fruit leather. Below is the recipe I choose out of a million to make our tasty treats. Looks simple enough...let's see! I have a feeling that this will be one of many fruit leather making sessions since my boys LOVE them. We do have some pears on the trees this year and we have high hopes that the apple tree will produce this year. Not to mention Pomegranate in November after our annual pomegranate jelly/syrup party. Let me know if you are interested in attending this year, its growing and growing!


Fruit Leather Recipe
Ingredients:  

•               Strawberries
•               Water
•               Lemon juice 
•               Sugar (if needed)
**4 cups of fruit yield about one sheet of fruit leather

Directions:

1.            Preheat the oven to the lowest setting or 120 degrees...the lowest my oven would go was 170 degrees.
2.            Rinse the berries and cut of the green tops.  Cut the berries into quarters if they are large berries.
3.            If the berries are sweet you will not need to add much sugar, but if they are tart you will need to add a bit more.
4.            Place the berries in a covered saucepan on medium heat.  Pour in 1/2 c. water for every 4 cups of fruit.  Bring the berries to a simmer and let them cook down for 10-15 minutes until the fruit is soft.
5.            Use a potato masher to mash the fruit that is left in the pan until fairly smooth.  (Or wait for the mixture to cool a bit and put it in your food processor or blender.)  If you kiddos are sensetive to the seeds, you could strain the mixture through cheesecloth to remove the strawberry seeds.
6.            Add sugar 1 tsp. at a time until desired sweetness and lemon juice to taste  I added 1/2 c. sugar and the juice from 1/2 of a lemon to give it some real zing.
7.            Simmer fruit until sugar is completely disolved and the mixture has thickened (about 5 or 10 minutes more).
1.             
 8.   Spray a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray and line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Pour the strawberry mixture onto the lined baking sheet until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick or so.
            9.  Bake in the low temperature oven for as long as it takes for the puree to dry out (between 8 and 12 hours) and not be sticky to the touch...ours took 6.5 hours since it was at a higher temp.
          10.  Let the fruit leather cool.  Then as you take the leather up, tightly roll it, plastic wrap and all as you would do cinnamon rolls.
           11.  Then cut the leather into desired widths.
           12.  Store the homemade "fruit roll ups" in airtight containers or plastic baggies.

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