My kids love fruit roll-ups. And on the surface they seem great, with a full serving of fruit packed into a transportable, no mess package. The only catch is that a lot of times they are high in sugar and sweetened with fruit juice, cane sugar or the dreaded high fructose corn syrup. I have always wondered why you need to sweeten them so much, seeing as fruit already has so much sugar, So I set out to see if we could make then ourselves. After all we're still in the thick of great summer produce, and I got a killer deal on berries at the market.
After a little research I found out that fruit roll-ups are pretty easy to make. The hardest part is the dehydrating process, which takes several hours in the oven and careful planning when pouring your fruit puree into your baking sheet. So this might not be my quickest snack ever, but it's still pretty low maintenance since you just pop your baking sheet into the oven and walk away for a few hours.
I just got a new oven so the thought of testing it out over the course of 3 hours sounded like fun. My old oven was pretty inconsistent at baking and attached to a microwave that made ventilation in the kitchen pretty limited. We all called her Old Bessie, and there's a pic at the end of this so you all can marvel at antiquity of the thing. And after the fruit roll-ups were done I have to say, my new oven kicks some even cooking at low temp butt.
This recipe calls for mixed berried and a nectarine, but feel free to swap our with the fruit that you have at home. Ultimately the main goal of anything we cook around here is for it to be purple, my little girls' all-time favorite color. It's up to my own ingenuity to find a way to make all our purple food healthy, as this is with tons of vitamin C, antioxidants, fiber and manganese, Regardless of color I think that berried and stone fruits are your best option, but let me know if you find another combination that you like.
Enjoy!
Mixed berry nectarine fruit roll-ups
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook time: ~3 hours
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
1 nectarine
1 tablespoon honey (optional, depending on how sweet your berries are)
Preheat oven to 250F.
In a food processor or blender puree berries until they are liquid.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour in your fruit puree, then spread out into a flat, thin layer with a spatula. Make sure that the center is a little thinner and that the edges are thicker. A uniform layer will result in burnt edges, so you want the edges to be thicker.
Cook in the oven for ~ 3 hours or until the fruit layer peels off of the parchment cleanly and evenly. Let cool completely. With a sharp knife and a ruler, score around the outside of the ruler to make even strips. Thoroughly cut through the strips and paper, so that the parchment stays attached to the fruit. Roll the strips up. When ready to eat, simply peel the parchment paper backing off. Store leftover strips in an airtight container in the fridge.
After a little research I found out that fruit roll-ups are pretty easy to make. The hardest part is the dehydrating process, which takes several hours in the oven and careful planning when pouring your fruit puree into your baking sheet. So this might not be my quickest snack ever, but it's still pretty low maintenance since you just pop your baking sheet into the oven and walk away for a few hours.
I just got a new oven so the thought of testing it out over the course of 3 hours sounded like fun. My old oven was pretty inconsistent at baking and attached to a microwave that made ventilation in the kitchen pretty limited. We all called her Old Bessie, and there's a pic at the end of this so you all can marvel at antiquity of the thing. And after the fruit roll-ups were done I have to say, my new oven kicks some even cooking at low temp butt.
This recipe calls for mixed berried and a nectarine, but feel free to swap our with the fruit that you have at home. Ultimately the main goal of anything we cook around here is for it to be purple, my little girls' all-time favorite color. It's up to my own ingenuity to find a way to make all our purple food healthy, as this is with tons of vitamin C, antioxidants, fiber and manganese, Regardless of color I think that berried and stone fruits are your best option, but let me know if you find another combination that you like.
Enjoy!
Mixed berry nectarine fruit roll-ups
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook time: ~3 hours
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup chopped strawberries
1 nectarine
1 tablespoon honey (optional, depending on how sweet your berries are)
Preheat oven to 250F.
In a food processor or blender puree berries until they are liquid.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour in your fruit puree, then spread out into a flat, thin layer with a spatula. Make sure that the center is a little thinner and that the edges are thicker. A uniform layer will result in burnt edges, so you want the edges to be thicker.
Cook in the oven for ~ 3 hours or until the fruit layer peels off of the parchment cleanly and evenly. Let cool completely. With a sharp knife and a ruler, score around the outside of the ruler to make even strips. Thoroughly cut through the strips and paper, so that the parchment stays attached to the fruit. Roll the strips up. When ready to eat, simply peel the parchment paper backing off. Store leftover strips in an airtight container in the fridge.
Dearly departed Old Bessie, probably not up to the task of cooking fruit roll-ups
