My kids love fruit leather, but sometimes it takes more like plastic to me then sweet fruity leather. This Strawberr-Wee Fruit Leather couldn’t be any easier to make and it’s the perfect use for summer strawberries!

If you follow weelicious on Twitter or Facebook, you may have read about my recent fruit leather obsession. My kids love fruit roll-ups and while there are some great brands out there made with just fruit, I know can save a ton of dough making it myself. While I haven’t spent a lot of money trying to figure it out, I have spent a lot of time! As of today, I’ve made 15 (yes, fifteen!!!!) batches of strawberry leather in an effort to perfect the recipe. It’s been a frustrating challenge to say the least, especially when making fruit leather seems so easy in principal. It’s just fruit and heat, right? Yes and no.

Here’s a breakdown of my results:

Batches 1-4: I used juicy strawberries from the farmer’s market, baked them for three hours and the batch turned out perfect and chewy with a deep red color. I couldn’t believe how easy it was and was very busy congratulating myself afterwards. Kenya actually found one of the batches that I hid in the closet to save for his school lunch and ate the entire thing! At least I know he got his vitamin C for the day — I mean, week!

Batches 5-8: So much for being proud of myself. These attempts were total disasters. This time I used organic strawberries from the grocery that were much bigger and less juicy than the ones I bought from the farmer’s market. Sadly, each of these batches burned when I cooked them at different times right around three hours. I was left totally frustrated.

Batches 9-12: Back to perfection using berries from the farmer’s market. I kept the cooking time at three hours for each batch and I finally realized the juicier the berries, the longer they take to cook. You really have to judge the berry you are using before setting your cooking time.

Batches 13 & 14: Back to the organic grocery store berries, but this time I wised up and only baked them for only two hours, which produced one batch that burned a bit on the edges (because I didn’t spread it out totally even) but another turning out perfect.

Knowing that people will have varying results, I asked friends and a bunch of weelicious readers to give the recipe a try. Everyone’s outcomes were slightly different. Here’s what I’ve determined: you have to experiment for yourself with this recipe. Everyone’s berries and ovens are different, so there isn’t one definitive cooking time. My best advice is to spread the mixture as evenly as possible on the baking sheet and keep a close eye on the fruit while it’s cooking. Be prepared for a bit a trial and error and don’t lose your cool. Hopefully when you find your ideal cooking time, you’ll be knocking out batches of your own fruit leather with ease.

Strawberr-Wee Fruit Leather (Makes 8 Long Strips)

3 Cups Strawberries
1 Tbsp Honey

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Remove the stems from the strawberries and rinse.
3. Place the strawberries and honey in a blender and puree until smooth.
4. Pour the mixture on to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and spread with the back of a spoon or spatula in a large rectangle (my rectangle was 11 x 15 inches) making sure that the mixture is completely even.
5. Bake for 2-3 hours (or until it’s dry and not sticky to the touch). Remember, cooking times will vary depending on how thick you spread your mixture and how much water (juice) is naturally in the fruit. *Every oven is different, so the cooking time maybe less then 2 hours if your oven tends to be hot.
6. Allow to sit and cool at room temperature. It takes several hours for the fruit to soften up (when you first take the leather out of the oven the edges will be a bit dry and crispy, but if you allow it to sit overnight it softens up nicely).
7. Cut with a knife or pizza cutter into strips or use scissors, keeping the paper on, and then roll the leather into “roll ups”.
8. Serve.

One of Kenya’s favorite snack foods is Trader Joe’s “Nothing But Bananas, Flattened”. As the name clearly states, there’s nothing in them except for bananas. As much as I truly adore Trader Joe’s, I wanted to see if I could save a little money and make a similar version to this treat on my own. When I tell you my attempt took no effort or time, I mean it. All I did was slice the bananas, lay them on a cookie sheet and bake for just over an hour. It was so easy and I think they’re even better than the Trader Joe’s version.

But, don’t take my word for it. Let your family do a taste test and see for yourself. When Kenya saw these come out of the oven, he proceeded to eat the entire tray’s worth. Good thing I had more bananas on hand to make another batch!

P.S. This is a great teething snack for babies.

Banana Flats (Makes Approx. 12 Strips)

2 Bananas

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Slice the bananas lengthwise into 1/8 inch strips.
3. Place the banana strips on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
4. Cool and serve.

Again, I have to praise Trader Joe’s for another affordable snack that kids love. Whenever Kenya sees a bag of these fruit bars sitting out, he looks at me at say “Mo!” (translation: more). They’re made from a mix of fruit pulp such as apples, boysenberry, blackberry, nectarine, cherry, passion fruit and more so there sweet, but also a bit tangy. They’re also totally unsweetened with no added sugar. Another good thing is they don’t make a mess, so they’re a good travel snack on the days that you don’t feel like dragging around fruit slices in a ziplock that end up getting stinky after a few hours. This is a perfect choice no matter if your child is vegetarian, eating a gluten free diet or you’re just just looking to give them something easy and delicious.