Homemade Fruit Roll-ups

I recently saw this recipe for fruit roll-ups on one of my favorite kid design sites Ohdeedoh. I love organic fruit leather, but they are too tough for Sofia's teeth to bite through. I love the idea of making my own and can't wait to try this out with some yummy seasonal fruits - it is berry season here in Colorado & we are planning a trip to pick our own in the next couple of weeks. By the way, thank you to everyone for sharing your recipes, tips, and stories with us. 

Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups:

step 1 Ingredients
You will need fruit, pick your favorite. You can use anything from frozen, to fresh from the garden! For this I used two mangos, a half a bag of fresh cherries, and a lemon.

As for tools/appliances, you will need a cutting board, a knife, a blender, a pot and stove, something to mix with, a cooking sheet, and an oven. 

step 2 Prep
Preheat your oven to 200ºF, if you have a convection oven I recommend using it, if not a regular bake will do.

Next blend your fruit together. No need to add any sweetener. I do strongly recommend using lemon juice though, just as much as you can get out of a single lemon. Blend until smooth.

Make sure you are not getting any pits or seeds from the lemon in it, I did the first time, it isn't something you want to run into while eating this.

step 3
Next, you want to pour it in a pot and bring it to a boil, I put it on medium high heat. Once it starts to simmer, make sure that you keep it in motion. It does not need to be in constant motion, but the bottom needs to keep from burning.

It should get fairly thick. You want it to be boiling for a few minutes. The goal is, to get it thick enough to the point it will not spread too much when you pour it on a flat surface. You will notice that it is slower to fill the space when you move it, and will all fall in clumps.

step 4 Bake
Pour your fruit on a baking sheet (I used parchment paper, just because I use it with everything I put on a baking sheet, but it should not stick to much if you rather not use it) it does not need to still be boiling, but it shouldn't be too cold either. Smooth it out*, and pop it in the oven that has already been preheated to 200°F. Leave it for at least an hour. You will know it is done when you can touch it, without any coming off on your fingers.

*Make sure that it is very smooth and even. Other wise it will not cook evenly.

step 5 Serve
My favorite way to serve these fruity snacks is to cut them into long strips, roll them up, and place a cute sticker on them. You could also use a cookie cutter to make them fun shapes though!

Can't wait to bring this to our next play date!