This is our spring break week, and Jeth and I celebrated his days out of class with a trip to Gettysburg.  No road trip is complete without car snacks (yes, maybe we’re just really big kids), so I made up a batch of fruit leather.  We had some applesauce that needed to be used up, and lots of frozen cranberries that I stocked up on after Thanksgiving, so I blended them together with a little honey the evening before we had to leave.  After a night in the dehydrator, we had a bag full of homemade fruit roll-ups ready to go in the morning!  They aren’t super sweet, so I didn’t even feel bad eating most of the batch by myself.  It’s just fruit, right?

Cranberry Apple Fruit Leather

1 quart unsweetened applesauce
2 c. cranberries
3-5 T. honey, to taste (or you could use sugar)

Blend all the ingredients together until it’s smooth.  Depending on the size of your blender, you might have to do this in 2 batches.  I started with just a little honey, and kept adding until I was happy with the sweetness.  Remember that all the flavors will concentrate when it’s dehydrated!

Spread it out on 3  13.5″ dehydrator trays (or 2, if you want thicker fruit leather) and dry at 135 degrees for about 6 hours, until it is dry to the touch.

Thicker fruit leather will take longer to dry.  You could also spread it on sprayed or lined baking sheets in a 200 degree oven until it’s dry.  Once it’s ready, peel it off the sheets and tear or cut it into strips.  Since it’s dried, it should keep for quite a while, but I’ve always eaten it well before then!