Roll the Fruit... Up

Packing has struck again. I have tried to do about million things today (okay like six) and ended up missing one small part of what I needed because it's in a box. There are so many boxes. I think Macie is even tired of the boxes because she got mad at something today and tried to push one. Poor kid. What was she mad about you ask? Food. My child could eat forever. She is never ever full. At first I thought it was good that she was always willing to eat whatever I gave her, but now I am starting to wonder. She has a little temper and she wants food, watch out!! 


Because of her massive appetite, I've been on the lookout for some snacks that I can give her throughout the day. She hardly ever has sugar and I am happy to keep it that way so when this pin from Our Best Bites for fruit leather (formerly known as fruit roll-ups) came up, I jumped on it. I had seen a few before but that was before Macie started trying to eat me out of house and home so I wasn't as eager to try them. The best part of this pin, I thought I had everything I needed on hand to try it... thought is the key word in that sentence. 

A couple weeks ago I had gotten a ton of blueberries and strawberries and didn't use them all fast enough so I froze them. This was the perfect time to use them (since I'm trying to clean out the fridge and freezer) so I grabbed them and thawed them just enough to get make sure they would blend. The food processor is already packed - shocking, I know - so I used the blender instead. I threw the fruit, a little honey and some lemon juice in the blender and let it do its magic. By magic, I mean, I shook it and muttered under my breath until it got through all of the strawberries -after that it was smooth sailing. If the kitchen gods are listening, I would like a fancy ninja blender that doesn't test my religion - just saying. 


Anyway, back to the blender. Once the fruit was blended smooth, I grabbed the cookie sheet and silpat. Wait, the silpat was packed too - again, the shocked face - so I after some contemplation I decided to use the plan B from Our Best Bites and got the plastic wrap out. I covered the cookie sheet in plastic wrap and then poured the blended fruit onto the cookie sheet. After shaking it a little so that it was nice and even on the cookie sheet and popped it in the oven and waited... and waited... and waited. Yeah it takes a LONG time. After about 8 hours, it was time to take it out.  YAY! Time to cut and wrap them up and call it a day (or night since it took so long).


I have to tell you, I was a little disappointed in a few of the pieces, not in the taste... they are good - really good, but in the consistency. I think that I need to work on this a little bit more. I also think that I need my silpat. The plastic wrap wasn't smooth (user error) so there were some thicker spots in the fruit and that made the drying a little uneven. I had one area that was nice and thin and it came out great, but then another area that may have been too thick so it didn't dry out enough and was still a little wet on the under side. I'm not going to give up on this one though, it's a pin in progress. The taste is really good so I think I just need to master the fruit leather pouring technique. Have any of you tried fruit leather? How'd it go? Have any tips? Bring them on!!