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No Sugar Added, Nectarine Fruit Leather

I am a huge fan of Trader Joe's dried fruit bars.  I'm not a huge fan of paying fifty cents a piece for them.  I decided over the weekend I'd use up the nectarines in my fridge in an attempt to create something similar.  My 2 year old and I loved them.  Dr. J thought they were a little 'toothy' for his liking. I like them that way, so I am happy to eat them all up.  I put a bag of them in my purse so I would have a healthy snack, on hand, if I got hungry throughout my day... which is fairly often for this nursing mama!

Ingredients
4 nectarines, pits removed and chopped (I left the skin on for the extra fiber and nutrients)
1/8 cup orange juice

Directions
1.  Heat oven to 140 degrees F.  If you have a convection or dehydrate option on your oven, use it.  If not, it will still work on bake, it just might take a little longer to dry out.
2.  Puree nectarines and orange juice in a food processor or blender.
3.  Cover a cookie sheet with raised edges, or a baking pan with parchment paper.  Pour the puree into the lined sheet or pan.
4.  Dehydrate in the oven for 8 hours.  At the 8 hour mark, check the fruit for your desired 'toothiness' as Dr J. would say, and continue to cook if necessary.  I had mine in the oven for about 12 hours.
5.  Peel the fruit leather off the parchment and use a pizza slicer to cut them into strips.  Happy/healthy snacking!

P.S.  It was 110 degrees F here today, in my neck of the woods... well, more like desert.  I read that in the olden days, you just covered your fruit with cheese cloth and left it outside to dehydrate.  Next time I think I might try that.  I will definitely let you know how it goes...

   

Comments

aimee said…
This is such a great idea for a snack! Thanks for this, Elise!
This recipe is so AWESOME! Totally a money savor too!

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