One of my kids’ favorite snacks is fruit leather and now I’ve found a way to make them at home and to do one of my very favorite things, get my kids involved in cooking, too.

Ingredients

• 1  1/2 lb strawberries, halved (4 1/2 cups)
• 3/4 cup sugar

Equipment:

• a  nonstick bakeware liner such as a Silpat Jelly Roll Liner 11-by-17-Inches and a large Offset Spatula
  

1. Purée strawberries with sugar in a blender until smooth, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large heavy saucepan.
2. Bring purée to a boil, then simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally (more frequently toward end), until thick enough to mound slightly and reduced to 1 to 11/4 cups, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 200°F with rack in middle. Line a large baking sheet with nonstick liner.
4. Pour hot purée onto liner and spread thinly (as evenly as possible) into a 15- by 10-inch rectangle using spatula. Dry purée in oven until it feels drier (it shouldn’t stick to your fingers) but is still slightly tacky, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
5. Cool on liner on a rack until completely dry, at least 3 hours and up to 24.
6. Place a sheet of parchment paper over leather, then peel leather off liner and roll up in parchment.

Cooks’ note: Strawberry leather keeps in a sealed bag at room temperature 1 month.

Try this with raspberries, blueberries, blackberries… experiment, have fun!

recipe and photograph from Gourmet.com