Strawberry Leather Snacks

March 1st, 2012 | Fruit, Kid's Table, Other, Side Dishes, Sweets | 1 Comment

A typical day in my life:

6:30-6:45am - One of two children come in and wake hubby and I up.

6:45-7:00 - Hubby and I farkle over who's going to go down and make coffee.

7:15-7:45 - I make children's breakfast, enjoy cup of coffee that I almost always end up brewing.

8:00am - Sit down at computer and filter through emails scouting to see what "deals" I might find that I can't live without on various websites such as Hautelook, RueLaLa, One Kings Lane, Ideeli, Zulily, etc. etc. etc.

8:30am - Look at clock "holy moly! it's getting late!" Rush kids upstairs to get ready for school...race out the door, drop child #1 off at 9am, run errands, go to library/park/gym with child #2; then head home.

11:00am -Feed and get child #2 ready for school, go pick child #1 up from school and head straight to drop off child #2 at 12pm.

12:15pm - Head home, feed child #1 and get her down for a nap.

Look at clock again--its 12:45pm and I haven't had a bite to eat all day. Garrrrrrrrr.

If only I could plan ahead and make some snacks to keep in my car as I rush from here to there throughout the day. Snacks that will not create {additional} crumbs everywhere; snacks that don't need to be refrigerated but can be kept in the car; snacks that are healthy {yet delicious} so I don't end up making a rash decision and pull into In-N-Out because I am just so darn hungry and its all I have time for.

I'm finally doing it--I'm starting with fresh fruit and turning it into a healthy snack that I can keep closeby to keep me from sabbotaging my quest for a smaller waistline.

This recipe does take some time...I put my strawberries in at 9:30 am and it was about 15 hours before they were ready. Chances are that you will not be awake for the entire cooking time. Don't worry, once you set your timer, the oven will automatically shut off and the fruit will be fine sitting in the oven until the next morning.

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
zest and juice of one orange
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Slice strawberries into about 1/4" thickness. Put into a medium sized saucepan. Zest and juice orange and add to the strawberries. Add in cinnamon and vanilla and turn on heat to medium. Bring strwa to cook and soften for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Using an immersion blender (or transfer to a blender), break up strawberry pieces until no large chunks remain. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour mixture out onto baking sheet.

Turn oven on to Dehydrate setting at 140 degrees. Put strawberries into oven, set cook time to 15 hours {yes, FIFTEEN} and let them do their thing! If your oven does not have a dehydrate setting, set it to the lowest possible heat and watch your fruit closely after about 10 hours--the higher the temperature, the faster your fruit will cook.

Once fruit leather has completely dried out (you don't want it to be sticky or tacky at all), gently peel it away from the parchment paper. Using a pizza slicer, cut leather into strips.

Store in a ziplocking bag or airtight container and hide from you husband who is likely to swipe the whole bag and take it to work with him because he, too, sometimes gets so neck deep into phone calls and contracts that he forgets to eat until 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

I suppose this goes without saying, but this is also a great snack to pack in your little one's lunchbox or to serve at playdates...I just selfishly only thought of moi when making this delicious, healthy snack! Terrible, aren't I?

One thought on “Strawberry Leather Snacks”

Marilyn Mason on May 4, 2012 at 3:06 am said:

Love the recipe for Strawberry leather! My husband is diabetic and this will be a real treat for his snacks. The possibilities for other things I’ve used a stacking tabletop dehydrator for are endless. I’m going to try this for my beef jerky.

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