Homemade Raspberry Fruit Leather

You remember eating fruit rollups as a kid, right? I seriously loved them; the only problem was one was never enough so a box didn’t last long. For the longest time, I’ve been seeing homemade versions all over the place in the food blog world. Given my love for replicating store-bought treats at home, I’m not sure why it took me so long to attempt the fruit rollups. I went totally overboard buying raspberries recently (I can’t resist end-of-the season berries, even if there are already 4 pints of them in my fridge at home…), which gave me the push I needed to get in the kitchen and make it happen.

You guys aren’t even going to believe how easy it is to make this homemade fruit leather! I’m totally kicking myself for not having done it sooner. Forget the long ingredient list you’ll see on the box at the store – you need just three ingredients to make this recipe at home: raspberries, lemon juice, and sugar! As I noted below, the amount of sugar you use is entirely up to you too. I added the sugar little by little until I was happy with the level of sweetness. The ingredients are pureed in your food processor then spread into a thin layer on a baking sheet. You bake at a super low temperature in your oven to basically dehydrate the fruit – this process takes a few hours, but it’s worth the wait!

I made a small batch just to test the recipe and upon taking my first bite immediately wished I’d made at least double. The flavor and the texture were perfect, even better than I remember from the boxed version; I could have eaten all of the fruit rollups myself that first day! Instead, I packed them up and shared with my friend and her twins when I visited them yesterday. Her kids had never had fruit rollups before so I wasn’t sure how mine would go over, but they loved them! I can’t wait to make the recipe with other fruits and surprise them with more deliveries 🙂

Homemade Raspberry Fruit Leather

{Note: the amount of sugar you use is up to you. If your berries are really sweet, or you want a less sweet result, feel free to decrease the quantity listed here.}

6 oz fresh raspberries (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 170 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.

Add the raspberries, lemon juice, and sugar to the bowl of your food processor. Process until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds (this is optional, if you don’t mind seeds you can skip the straining).

Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread in an even, thin layer (about 1/8-inch thick). Bake for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until you can touch the leather and it’s no longer wet and sticky. The baking time will vary slightly depending on the thickness of your leather – the thinner it is, the shorter the baking time.

Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack and allow the fruit leather to cool. Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter to cut into strips. Wrap with parchment paper and store in an airtight container.