Fruit Leather

Ok, I was a little unsure of this one, but it is awesome (which is good since there is a lot of cutting and peeling involved). I did learn a few things along the way, but I will certainly make it again and am excited to experiment with other fruits...I was happy this called for apples and pears as I had a bunch from my in-laws trees. First, I will admit that a blender DOES NOT work. I don't have a food processor (which I think would be the best to use) so I used the fine grater on my KitchenAid after chopping up the apples and pears. The texture was probably courser therefore the finished product looks different from store bought fruit leather, but the taste is terrific. I had some very ripe pears so I actually only used 1/4 of the sugar and honestly only did that because I had measured out the whole amount, started to pour and had second thoughts...this could be made without the sugar and you wouldn't miss anything. Oh, one more bit of advice. I wasn't sure how thick the fruit should be spread out. I spread it out as thin as I could without leaving holes and when it was finished drying there were areas that ended up looking lacy and turned a bit crispy. This wasn't bad, but just not the idea that I had for what fruit leather should be.

I make this all the time for my daycare kids. In order it to work in a blender you must cook the apples first in about 1/4 cup of water until barley tender. Then puree in blender as directed.