This recipe teaches you how to create your own apricot fruit leather. When your tree produces a bountiful crop, it’s a terrific way to use up leftover apricots. This is an excellent snack because apricots are so nutrient-dense. In an airtight container, the leather will remain intact for a very long period.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 6 hrs |
| Total Time: | 6 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 14 |
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 cups pitted and diced fresh apricots
- ½ cup white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150 degrees F (165 degrees C), or the lowest setting you have.
- Combine lemon juice, apricots, and sugar in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.
- Cover an 11×17-inch pan or cookie sheet with a layer of plastic wrap. Pour pureed fruit onto the prepared pan and spread evenly to within 1 inch of the edge.
- Bake for 4 to 6 hours in the preheated oven, using a spoon or a pair of tongs to keep the door slightly ajar, or until puree has dried and is no longer sticky. Once dry, you can cut it into strips; store in an airtight container.
Reviews
This fruit leather is delicious. However, after 6 hours in 150 oven it was nowhere near done. I turned off the oven for the night and then turned it back on the next day to 160 instead of 150. It took three days of this for it to be finished. Not sure if it’s something wrong with my oven. I tried propping the oven door open for several hours with a spoon, thinking the ventilation would help to dry the fruit, but that actually seemed to slow the process. I doubled the recipe and put it on a XL cookie sheet, so it might have been a little thicker. Luckily I didn’t need my oven for anything else for a few days. The resulting product is delicious.
Very good. I want to try with other fruit.
Very nice when finally dehydrated. It took 12 hours at 200 F. Very tasty!
It turned out terrible. The sugar caramelised leaving it with a burnt flavour. In wondering whether drying it at 150 in a fan oven was the right thing to do. I clearly did something wrong.
I don’t know what I did wrong, but after 1 hour in the opened oven it was completely burnt to a crisp.
not sure yet,I goofed and pureed so many batches I was tired.I forgot you have to cook it first but it has been in the oven 8 hrs. now and getting dryer so I still have hope.Especially after reading the post from one who set up a tent and let hers dry and took 2-3 days.Have my fingers crossed…….
not sure yet,I goofed and pureed so many batches I was tired.I forgot you have to cook it first but it has been in the oven 8 hrs. now and getting dryer so I still have hope.Especially after reading the post from one who set up a tent and let hers dry and took 2-3 days.Have my fingers crossed…….
Kids love it! I have to do things differently, so I sprinkled coconut flakes on top before drying in our dehydrator. We also used agave, but the original recipe is still very good.
I blended the apricots first , they started turning brown pretty fast added the lemon juice and sugar and brought to a slow boil . Removed from heat . I filled my vitamix up to about 4 cups of apricot halves..it blended down to about 2 cups. Used sugar and lemon juice as in recepie. I used my old dehydrator and lined the trays with Glad press and seal wrap. Cut out the middle and rolled the sides to make a gap for circulation around the edges. Only filled two trays.
in a dessicator for 10 hours and you end up with a crunchy fruit crisp – very addictive!
This looks like a good recipe but i have my own for pineapple/apricot great idea for dehydrating!! by the way 150 deg F is 66 deg C most ovens only go down to 170 deg F which is 77 deg C
My mother and I have made this for YEARs…we cover the trays with cheese cloth and set them out on the roof of the house…they dehydrate by the heat of the sun…yummy
This is a fun recipe. I live in Arizona and set them outside to dry with a cheese cloth covering them. It worked surprisingly well.
This is a fun recipe. I live in Arizona and set them outside to dry with a cheese cloth covering them. It worked surprisingly well.
My whole family loves fruit leathers including the hubby. Depending on the fruit’s sweetness I normally don’t add any sweetener and if they do need a bit of sweetness I add about a teaspoon of honey at a time until it reaches my desired sweetness. I find that baking them consolidates their sugars and they come out sweeter after baking than they did when I put them in the oven. I cook mine at my oven’s lowest temp which is 170 and I do not prop the door open and they always come out great. I use silicone mats vs the plastic wrap and they peel off beautifully. I also triple the recipe so I can get the most bang for having my oven on for that long, just recommend rotating the pans every couple hours for even cooking. Enjoy these great treats that you don’t have to feel guilty feeding your family.
This is one of those “why didn’t I do this sooner?” recipes. I love fruit roll ups but really hate the amount of sugar that goes into them – never mind the artificial stuff that a lot of them seem to have. I would suggest using parchment paper sprayed with vegetable oil instead of plastic wrap, especially if your oven only goes down to 170 like mine!
I have 2 huge apricot trees so I prepare gallons of apricot puree. I set up my 10 person tent and I have lots of plastic shelving and I lay plastic grocery bags out on the shelves as flat as I can get them and pour the puree onto the bags. Then I have 30-50 sheets of fruit leather in 2-3 days depending on humidity and heat. Also you don’t have to worry about bugs.
Please note! it should say 150F and 65C not 165C! Love the taste!
This seemed like a great recipe, but after several batches/days I could never get the middle to dry out or the plastic to not melt. If I turned up the heat as others did then the plastic wrap would melt into my pan. Sigh. I really wanted this to work – but I think I just need a dehydrator.
So super easy and kids loved it…It did take longer for mine to set up and cook but I left it overnight and it was fine.
For those whose oven can only set to 170 degree the lowest, there is a way to trick the oven. There is a light button on the corner of your oven (mine is one the left hand side). You can see it when you open your oven door. When you use a long wooden spoon to keep the door ajar, make sure the spoon is also pushing that light button down, it will “fool” the oven to think the door is closed and the oven will keep running.