With only two ingredients, Strawberry Lemonade Fruit Roll Ups are a cinch to make and a total hit with my boys. Over the years, feeding my two sons healthy food has been quite a passion for me. So it will come as no surprise that making my boys healthy snacks and lunches is also of great importance! Given that the boys are now both in high school, it’s a higher priority than ever to get as much good, wholesome food into them as I can.
That of course means coming up with great snack ideas, as well as packing real unprocessed food in their school lunches. These organic Strawberry Lemonade Fruit Roll Ups fit that bill and then some. They’re one of those amazingly easy snacks that delight all around! My boys liked these roll ups so much I could barely keep up with their collective appetite for this healthy, low-glycemic treat made of pure fruit. This recipe is based on one that I found at Safeway.com.
In my version of Safeway’s recipe, I have altered the ingredients by omitting the honey and lemon juice, and changed the method a bit. I love this recipe because you can bake it in the oven, and there is no need for a dehydrator –an expensive piece of equipment that occupies a good deal of kitchen cabinet space. The downside is that sometimes baking a fruit roll up that’s made in the oven can be just a tad fussy. However, I think I’ve worked out a fantastic method for dealing with that!
Strawberry Lemonade Fruit Roll Ups
Ingredients
- 1 pound organic strawberries, hulls removed
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Place strawberries and lemon zest in a vitamix
- Blend on high until smooth
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper
- Pour three strips of puree lengthwise onto each baking sheet, two inches apart
- Bake at 175°F for 2½-3 hours; strips on bottom rack will cook closer to 2½ hours, and strips on top rack closer to 3 hours
- Using kitchen shears cut along each strip of fruit roll ups so that edges are smooth and pretty
- Roll fruit roll ups around a thick pen and fasten with washi tape
- Peel off paper when ready to eat
Equipment
After looking at a number of fruit leather recipes and testing this recipe more than a dozen times, I’ve realized that there is one main issue when it comes to diy fruit roll ups. Sometimes the fruit leather cooks very evenly, however, other times, even using the exact same ingredients, the center of the tray is wet, while the outer edges are dried out to perfection. Now that’s not a good thing. It’s actually quite a conundrum. How to fix it?
As you will see in my recipe above, I use two large parchment lined baking sheets, rather than a single one, and pour the fruit puree onto the sheets in strips rather than one big puddle. Problem solved! The fruit leather cooks through quite evenly, as you give it more surface area (and less center mass) by dividing it into six strips for baking. For a visual of this method, please check out my instagram photo.
Another fruit roll ups tip? Well, let’s acknowledge the fact that all ovens are different. Even the two ovens I have below my kitchen range require baking the same exact recipes for different amounts of time. That’s weird. But it’s also true. So, if your fruit leather is not done after the baking time below, simply cook it a bit longer until it is evenly cooked through and through.
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If you’re fruit leather gets a bit overcooked and tastes crunchy, like fruit paper, more than fruit leather, simply fill a spray bottle with water and mist a bit of water onto it. That will do the trick!
As a mom, I can say that the best thing about healthy kid snacks like this one is that it’s easy to make. This incredible fruit leather contains only two ingredients that you throw in a blender (I think a regular blender would work with this recipe, although I haven’t tried it so not totally sure), spread on a baking sheet, and pop in the oven. Easy peasy!
So, how did I find this easy diy fruit roll up recipe? Recently, I was contacted by Safeway to promote their organic products and great ideas for healthy school lunches. I began this blog in 2006 and over the years, I haven’t worked with very many brands. So why did I choose to feature Safeway here? Between their organic food line, O Organics, and their competitive prices, I believe that this company is going in the right direction. Here on my blog, I only work with companies whose products I use in my own home. We have a couple of Safeway locations here in Boulder that offer an array of reasonable priced organic and gluten-free foods, as well as a Safeway in the mountains that we frequent when we are getting our fix of beautiful snowy Colorado on gorgeous winter weekends. Safeway’s prices for organic food are extremely competitive, and I believe that everyone deserves access to organic food.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of O Organics. All of the opinions contained in it are my own.
