Fruit Leather (No sugar added)

I mentioned yesterday that I went fruit picking over the weekend. After brainstorming all the possible things I could make with the literal fruits of our labor, I remembered watching an episode of Iron Chef America in which one chef made a mango fruit leather in the dessert round of the competition. After a little more research, I found this recipe for fruit leather roll-ups on the Food Network website.

We picked about 15 lbs of apricots, which was more than plenty to make this recipe and have a lot left over for eating or making jam, cobbler, or whatever your heart may desire. I didn't follow the recipe 100%, I hate adding sugar to fruit. Apricots are one of my favorite fruits, and when they are ripe they have the perfect mix of a sweet and tangy flavor.

I did add about 2-4 tbsp lemon juice to roughly 6 lbs of apricots, I blended it using a blender, though a large food processor would work just as well. Then, I added about 1 tsp of cinnamon while cooking the pureed apricots on the stove. Once you've reduced the puree on the stove, make sure the layers of the apricot puree in the oven are very thin, or they will take forever to cook. I was up until almost 1 am working on some of these since my layers were too thick!

Also, if you don't have (or cannot find) a silicone mat to bake the apricot puree on, make sure to use non-stick aluminum foil on a cookie sheet. Reynolds Wrap makes a non-stick aluminum foil, so it should be available at virtually any grocery store. Let the strips cool after baking, and cut with kitchen shears. Enjoy!

I'm not 100% sure of the nutrition on these, I think one small strip is roughly equivalent to the nutrition of one apricot, give or take. Don't forget to follow my adventures on Pinterest and Instagram (@chicinsneakers)!