Apple Blueberry Fruit Leather

This easy recipe for Apple Blueberry Fruit Leather is 100% fruit! Swap out blueberries for almost any fruit including peaches, plums, pears, strawberries, and more.

I was lucky enough to get to take the kids apple picking at a beautiful tree in a friend’s front yard. Our friends don’t spray the tree, so while most of the apples were delicious on the outside, the cores of nearly every apple contained a worm or two…or three.

This is why the ‘organic’ apple is such a magical fruit: it’s really hard to keep pests away from fruit. But many farmers work tirelessly to figure it out. (My dad has tried EVERYTHING to keep worms away; NOTHING but spraying pesticides works. So we just wash the fruit before eating.)

Anyway, we gathered almost a bushel of fruit! So what to do with 42 pounds of fruit? Make the BEST ‘Back to School’ snack: Apple Blueberry Fruit Leather. It may be a ‘different’ back-to-school season, but the kids still LOVE this snack and it’s fun and easy to make.

Tips for the Best Fruit Leather

• Use applesauce for your base. You can swap in any fruit for the 2 cups of blueberries in this recipe, including chopped pears, peaches, plums, strawberries, and more. But always use applesauce (homemade or store-bought) as a base. Apples have pectin – a naturally thick starch that give fruit leather the best texture; it’s thick and pliable.
• Simmer longer. The longer you simmer the fruit, the shorter you’ll have to dehydrate it.
• Use a dehydrator OR an oven. In the oven, the leather will take between 2-4 hours. In the dehydrator, it will take 6-8 hours.
• Store it right. Wrap the finished fruit leather in plastic wrap or parchment paper. Store at room temp for 1 week; or store in the freezer for many months.

Apple Blueberry Fruit Leather

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• Author: Serena Ball, MS, Rd
• Yield: About 16 servings 1x

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Description

Apple Blueberry Fruit Leather is a treat for kids’ lunches or snacks. It’s a very simple recipe of just fruit. Use almost any fruit to make this fruit leather.

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Ingredients

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• 3 medium apples, cored, chopped (don’t peel) OR 1 cup ‘natural’ applesauce (see NOTES)
• 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons of sugar OR 2 tablespoons honey

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Instructions

1. Combine apples, blueberries, lemon juice, sugar (or honey) and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, turn down heat to low and cook about 10-15 minutes until apples are very tender, stirring often. Cool slightly then use an immersion blender to puree; or puree in a food processor or blender.
2. Cover food dehydrator trays with parchment paper that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Spread apple blueberry puree over trays with a spatula or off-set spatula to about 1/8-inch thickness. OR if you are using the OVEN, cover baking trays with sprayed parchment paper; spread puree over the paper.
3. Dry in dehydrator for about 6-8 hours until the fruit leather is not sticky to the touch.
4. IN THE OVEN: Dry in a 200-degree oven for about 2-4 hours.

Notes

To use applesauce instead of apples, follow step #1 above using: 2 cups unsweetened applesauce instead of apples and the same amount of blueberries, lemon juice, sugar/honey, but NO water. You won’t need to bring the pot to a boil, instead, just cook over medium heat for a total of about 10 minutes; the mixture will still bubble a lot, so stir constantly. Follow the other steps as above.