Homemade Fruit Leather

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Homemade fruit leather made from apples and other fruits. Recipe makes one full-size sheet tray, but can be halved for half-size baking sheets in the oven or dehydrator. Makes about 2 lbs of fruit leather.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Drying time1

Course: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: fruit jerky, fruit leather recipe

Servings: Servings

Calories: 64kcal

Author: Alan Bergo

Cost: 5

Equipment

1 Box fan dehydrator or oven
Sheets of parchment paper as needed
1 large off-set spatula
1 Blender
1 large 2 gallon pot or slow cooker
1 Food mill or apple sauce maker
baking trays ideally full-size, or two half-size trays

Ingredients

Whole Fruit

5 lbs apples washed, unpeeled and whole
2 lb cranberries fresh or frozen
1 lb berries such as blueberries, fresh or frozen
½ teaspoon kosher salt as a preservative
¼ cup maple syrup or more to taste (optional)

Peeled, Skinless, Seedless Fruit

4 lbs diced apples starting with ~ 5 lbs raw, unpeeled apples
2 lb cranberries fresh or frozen
1 lb berries such as blueberries, fresh or frozen
¼ cup maple syrup or more, to taste (optional)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt as a preservative

Instructions

Using whole fruit

Cut the apples into pieces, leaving the skins and seeds attached.
Add the apples and remaining ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on low heat until the fruit begins to break down, about 4-5 hours.
Pass the fruit through a food mill or an apple sauce maker.
For the best texture, puree the warm fruit in a blender until smooth.

Using peeled, seedless, skinless fruit

Combine all ingredients, cover, and cook until the fruit is soft and breaking apart, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan.

Pureeing and dehydrating

Puree the cooked fruit.
Pour the puree into a wide pan at least 10 inches wide and bake at 325 F for 1-2 hours, until the mixture is thick like loose mashed potatoes or fruit butter, and you can see the bottom of the pan when stirring with a spatula, whisking occasionally to break up any clumps of pectin.
Spread the fruit puree in a layer at least ¼ inch thick on a sheet of parchment on a full-size baking sheet, or two half-size baking sheets using an off-set spatula.
4-5 cups of fruit puree is good for a typical baking sheet (half size). 8-10 cups of fruit puree is good for a full-size sheet tray.
Put the sheet trays in front of a box fan and leave to dry for 24-28 hours, or until they remove cleanly from the parchment or silicone.
Alternately, put half-sized baking sheets in an oven at 150-170 F, or a dehydrator. Both ovens and dehydrator fruit leather is ready in about 12 hours.

Serving and storing

Cut the fruit leather into manageable pieces using a kitchen shears, lay between sheets of parchment and store in a pantry or the fridge for long term storage.

Video

Notes

Finished fruit leather is great as a snack for kids or adults, but also works well in place of fresh fruit in the winter. Cut it into attractive strips and serve it with breakfast, lunch, as a low-sugar sweet after dinner, or on a winter charcuterie or cheese plate.

Nutrition