When I was a kid I loved fruit rolls! They were a great treat in my lunchbox, fun to play with and even more fun to eat! My favorite ones were red – which usually meant they had some sort of strawberry flavoring in them. I have no idea what was in the the fruit rolls of my childhood, but I can tell you exactly what is in the fruit rolls I make for my kids! They are fresh, delicious, and crazy easy to make! Not to mention, they are a great way to use up fruit that is super ripe and needs to be eaten fast!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Cups – Fresh ripe (or slightly over ripe) fruit of your choice
• 2 Tbsp – Fresh citrus of choice (lemon, lime or orange)
• Optional: 1/4 Cup Sugar (You can omit completely if your fruit is super ripe and sweet, or use a couple tablespoons of honey or agave if you prefer)
• Parchment paper or silicone baking mat
• Baking sheet (13×18 or 13×15 both work fine)
• Blender
• Spatula (I use an offset spatula because it tends to work best for spreading in a nice thin even layer)
• Large bowl

INSTRUCTIONS:

• First, line your baking sheet with parchment paper. I like to use parchment because it can be used when rolling up the fruit rolls once they are baked and cooled. You can also use a silicone baking mat. Make sure it covers the whole baking sheet.
• Wash and cut your ripe fruit into medium sized pieces that are easy to measure in a measuring cup and easy to blend. Make sure you have 3 cups of fruit and put into a large bowl.
• Squeeze 1 lemon, lime or small orange. Measure 2 tablespoons and add to your bowl of sliced fruit. You can also just add it to the blender on top of the fruit.
• Pour the fruit and juice mixture into your blender.
• Measure 1/4 cup of sugar and pour into the blender on top of the fruit. As mentioned above, you can omit the sweetener if your fruit is ripe and already very sweet. Adding sugar does make the fruit rolls a little more chewy in texture – more like a store bought fruit roll – but it is delicious no matter what!
• Place top on the blender and blend until almost smooth. A little texture is good. Your puree should be thin enough that it pours – and thick enough to stay put when you spread it on the pan.
• Pour the mixture onto your lined baking sheet. Use an offset spatula to spread the mixture about 1/8″ thick.
• Bake at about 170 degrees Fahrenheit for around 5-6 hours (might take longer depending on the thickness of your batch and what fruit you used. You are baking this low and slow to basically dehydrate it. If the edges start to get dark, take the pan out of the oven and brush the edges with a little water to help rehydrate it. If they are a little overdone at the end, just cut the edges off or try brushing with more water to make it more pliable. I baked my batch for about 4 hours and then turned off the oven and left it there overnight. My oven takes awhile to cool off so it continued to bake and then fully cooled by morning. If you need to bake it a little longer in the morning, that is totally fine, it won’t hurt it at all. If it is pretty close to done, keep an eye on it as you don’t want it to overcook and get crispy. For the first couple of hours you can be very hands off and just let it do it’s thing. After about 2 hours, it is usually a good time to test how done it is. If it is still very soft, set your timing for another 60 – 90 minutes or so and then check it again. Use the tip of your finger to test it by touchingthe center of the fruit mixture. It should notstick to your finger or leave an indent when you touch it.
• Once it is fully cooked and cooled, use kitchen scissors to cut into long strips, roughly 1-1.5″ thick. I eyeball it so my fruit rolls are not perfect – but I think it’s fun that way 🙂 They fit perfectly into kids lunches and you actually know whatis in them! YUM!
• Roll the strips into little rolls with the parchment paper and put into an airtight container for easy storage (mason jars or tupperware work great).
• Now, go enjoy your sweet and healthy treats! Don’t forget to share with the kids! 😉 XOXO

NOTE: I made 2 batches which I took photos of for this post. The first was made with 3 cups of strawberries and the juice of a small ripe orange (2 tbsp). For the second batch, I used 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup pear, 1 cup apple and the juice from 1 lime which came out to exactly 2 tablespoons. Both batches came out delicious! Use what you have on hand that needs to be eaten/used up! Also, look for ripe organic fruit on sale! Super ripe fruit is usually being sold for a great price before it goes bad – and it is perfect for these fruit rolls!