Hellobee

Until today, homemade fruit roll-ups or fruit leather were my go-to example of the kind of thing I DON’T make. Why make your life harder when you can just serve fruit? Even when I find myself with fruit in need of preservation, I’m likely to tackle it with an easier method, such as freezing.

So, what prompted this undertaking? Well, Zane requested fruit roll-ups for his lunchbox. Rather than purchase the corn syrup-filled variety, I finally had a reason to tackle making them at home. And I am SO glad I did.

Turns out, homemade fruit roll-ups are actually really easy to make! Puree the fruit of your choice, spread in a thin layer, and dehydrate in a low oven. They take hours to dry, but nearly the entire time is hands-off. You can even turn the oven off to step out for an hour or two, then resume cooking upon your return.

The trickiest part is keeping the fruit leather from sticking to the pan. In my research, those with Silpat baking mats highly recommend them for this task. Since I don’t have one, I experimented both with bare baking sheets coated with nonstick spray, as well as parchment-lined sheets with the same treatment. Both succeeded in releasing the fruit leather, but I prefer the baking sheets because the roll-ups tended to crease up in places on the parchment. Either method works, though.

For my debut fruit roll-ups recipe, I decided on autumnal flavors, combining sweet potato and apple, with a little honey for extra sweetness and a generous helping of cinnamon to make things extra cozy. Lemon juice gives a balancing acidity that reminds me of apple pie.

And what did Zane think? Although hesitant after finding they weren’t “rainbow,” the flavor won him over. He and Ruby have been loving my many tests, but I’ve been lucky enough to snack on them quite a bit myself. In short, they’re kid- and adult-approved.

Homemade Sweet Potato and Apple Fruit Roll-Ups

2 medium sweet potatoes
4 medium apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake the sweet potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet until tender, about 1 hour. Reduce heat to 170 degrees F.

Scoop the baked sweet potato flesh out of the skin and into a food processor or high-speed blender. Add the chopped apples, honey, cinnamon, and lemon juice and process until smooth. You should have just over 3 cups of puree; if you have more than that you can eat it or reserve it for another batch.

Lightly coat two 16 inch x 12 inch baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Pour 1 1/2 cups of the puree onto each baking sheet, and use an offset spatula to spread each in an even layer, leaving about an inch around the perimeter.

Bake close to the center of the oven until the center is dry to the touch and the fruit roll-ups pull up easily from the pans, around 5 hours (give or take an hour), swapping the pans at the 3-hour mark. Cool about 10 minutes before gently removing the fruit roll-ups from the baking sheets. Cool completely before cutting into strips and wrapping in parchment paper. Store in an airtight container.