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If you’ve got kids, there’s a high chance you’ve been asked on a number of occasions for these fruit leathers, the store bought variety that’s filled with, frankly, a horror show list of ingredients. And yes, you could make them yourself, but in my head that was reserved for, you know, Super moms and confectioners. But no more. These little babies are now officially one of my favourite snacks to make. Besides tasting Ahhhmaaaazing, these green apple fruit leather snacks are really fun to eat and super easy to make. I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to give them a go.
Green Apple Fruit Leather
As a Mom, I’ve looked at these in the supermarket, firstly with a what are they sort of bemusement, and then with a oh no! please, no, kind of horror as I read the ingredients list and the kids were telling me how everyone had these at school and their lives would be ruined if they couldn’t have them too. And not being the sort of Mom who wants to ruin their kids lives and also being the sort of Mom who’d committed to eating Clean, I got online fast and started researching.
I will say, these are a treat. Dried fruit is a lot more sugary than fresh fruit and sticks to your teeth like no ones business, so while these aren’t something that’s going to be a daily occurrence round here, I didn’t quit all sugars when we started eating Clean and I’m happy with the kids having treats now and again. Those treats just need to be a little healthier than the store bought versions, and made from Real food ingredients.
I don’t have a dehydrator, so I bake these in the oven. It takes a long time (3 – 4 hours), so I recommend making three or four trays at the same time to make it worth your while.
Fruit Leather Ingredients
I’ve got to tell you, it took all of 3 minutes to discover these are the easiest thing ever to make. They taste way better than the store ones I’m reliably told, and they use just 2 ingredients. Two! And as luck would have it I had both of them in the pantry already: Canned apples and cinnamon. Things were looking up :)
When you compare the list of homemade fruit leather ingredients to the store bought version, I think you’ll agree these are slightly better :)
- Homemade Ingredients: Apples, Cinnamon
- Store bought Ingredients: Fruit (70%), Glucose Syrup, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Palm), Gelling Agent (Pectin), Emulsifiers (Mono and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Natural Flavouring, Elderberry Juice Concentrate, Citric Acid, Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid), Malic Acid
Since I have absolutely no idea what many of these things are, I’ll often have a Google to find out and yes, it turns out, homemade fruit leathers are better than store bought fruit leathers. By a lot :)
How Long Do Fruit Roll Ups Last?
Once you’ve made your green apple fruit leathers and they’re all cut and rolled up neatly on parchment paper, they can be stored for up to a week, in an airtight container and kept in a cupboard.
Drying out the fruit as this recipe does, does mean the fruit releases more sugar than it would if you ate it asa. fresh apple. The water content is removed through the drying out process, and so you end up with more concentrated sugar. This acts as a preservative in these fruit leathers and means they keep for longer than the regular fruit would, hence why you can store these for longer and in a cupboard.
Apple Cinnamon Fruit Roll Ups
I’ve used green apples and cinnamon in this recipe. Green apples because they can be a bit more tart than other apples and this works well with the sugar in them when they’re cooked, and cinnamon because, well, I can’t think of a flavor or spice that goes better with apples than cinnamon. Except maybe custard…..Hmmm.
You can use pretty much any fruit you like for these. One batch uses quite a bit of fruit, so I prefer to use canned fruit because the cost of using fresh fruit would make these expensive to make.
More Clean Eating Snacks
- Healthy flapjacks
- Healthy chocolate and banana muffins
- Blueberry cake
- Peanut butter and Oatmeal bars
How To Make Green Apple Fruit Leather
Ingredients
- 1 Large Tin Apples 700g
- ½ tsp Cinnamon Ground
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175 Fahrenheit or 80 degrees Celsius.
- Line a baking tray with non stick baking paper.
- Blend apple and cinnamon on a blender until smooth.
- Spread out as evenly and thinly as possible onto the baking paper using a spatula.
- Bake for 3 – 4 hours until the apple is dry to the touch, but still a bit pliable. You don’t want it too dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- Leave the parchment paper on and cut into strips using sharp scissors and roll into snack sized servings.
Apple Roll Ups Recipe
Green Apple Fruit Leathers
Ingredients
- 1 Large Tin Apples 700g
- ½ tsp Cinnamon Ground
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175 Fahrenheit or 80 degrees Celsius.
- Line a baking tray with non stick baking paper.
- Blend apple and cinnamon on a blender until smooth.
- Spread out as evenly and thinly as possible onto the baking paper using a spatula.
- Bake for 3 – 4 hours until the apple is dry to the touch, but still a bit pliable. You don’t want it too dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- Leave the parchment paper on and cut into strips using sharp scissors and roll into snack sized servings.
