Friday, January 3, 2014

MICROWAVE FRUIT LEATHER

Christmas is done, New Years parties are over, so it's down to business, and a time to reach for healthy food and forget the breads and cakes - even the gluten free varieties.  These fruit roll-ups are a great snack alternative.

I do have a dehydrator, and I have made fruit leather and yoghurt roll ups in the dehydrator, but if you dont have one, you can use your microwave.  This recipe makes about 25-30  TOTALLY GLUTEN FREE, small roll-ups.   This is the right time of the year for these as fruit is cheap, and plentiful.    I am picking about half a kilo morning of berries and night from my bushes - I hope you are too.

INGREDIENTS:  
4 pears, peeled and rougly chopped,  2 cups strawberries or mixed berries also roughly chopped, plus  two and a half tablespoons of sugar.

METHOD:
1. Place the pears, berries and sugar in a food processor or blender and process until smooth, about one minute.  If you don't have either of these you could use a large mortar and pestle depending on the ripeness of the fruit.  I gues my "no-fuss" mum would have gone straight to number "2" below.

3. Pour the fruit puree into a medium size non-stick saucepan and bring to a rolling boil over a medium heat until the mixture had reduced to half.  This should take 5 to 6 minutes.  Remove from the heat and set aside for about 5 minutes.

4. Lightly coat a large microwave safe plate with non-stick spray, or olive oil, or coconut oil.

5. Evenly spread half (or part) of the fruit mixture over the suface of the plate.  This depends on the size of your plate.  Spreading evenly is very improtant as the mix will burn if there are thin patches or edges.  Microwave for about 5 minutes or until the mix is no longer sticky in the centre.  If you feel more cooking is needed, do it in 30 second bursts to make sure the fruit doesn't burn.

6. Repeat with the rest of the mix.  Let the two batches stand uncovered overnight to dry out.  Cut into strips, and then roll up.  Chew away.

These are fantastic for kiddies snacks or lunches.



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