Peach fruit leather

I have no trouble getting my kids to eat fruit. If it were up to my son, all he would eat is fruit. I buy so much fruit and generally it is all eaten up, but sometimes I end up with fruit that just doesn't last the week before I go to the store again. Dehydrating fruit really works well for us because it lasts longer, so we can eat lots of fresh fruit the days following my trip to the store, and then later in the week we can start eating the fruit products that last a little longer and don't attract fruit flies. So we eat a lot of raisins, dried cranberries, dried apples, etc. Fruit leather puts an interesting new spin on dried fruit. 

While I do love my dehydrator, it wouldn't work for fruit leather. You need a flat surface where you can make a nice, even layer. It has to sit in a low-temp oven for 3-4 hours. So do this on a cool day when you don't mind your oven being on for a while. 

When I first cut these up I thought they were a little too tough for toddlers, but they softened a bit over time and the kids were able to eat them just fine. The original recipe said to add some honey, but I didn't. Not because I didn't want to - I just forgot. They are plenty sweet though!

I started with 4 ripe peaches and blended them up in my new awesome food processor. You could also use a blender for this - you might just have to push the fruit down to get it going. 

Then I put some parchment on my cookie sheet and spread the mixture in as smooth and equal a layer as possible. 

Then into the oven it went for 4 hours. After the 4 hours, I just let it sit in the oven over night. The next day I used a cookie cutter to cut it into strips and rolled them up to make them nice and portable.

So there is another way to eat a peach - and make them last a little longer!

Peach Leather

4 ripe peaches
1 T honey (optional)

Process peaches until pureed. Set oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spread the puree in one layer over the parchment. Set in oven for 3 hours or until not sticky anymore. Let sit over night before cutting into desired shapes. Enjoy!