This yummy cinnamon applesauce fruit leather is the easiest dehydrator recipe your kids will love - with two simple ingredients you already have! It's a great beginning dehydrator recipe for both you and your kids!
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Fruit leather can be daunting, not knowing if it has to be cooked (to release the natural pectins in the fruit and make it more pliable), or if can be as easy as this no-cook Strawberry Banana fruit leather.
But it doesn't have to be.
This one is so easy your kids can do it, too! They'll be begging to make their own fruit roll-ups every week! It's on the list of my Easy Dehydrator Projects for Kids!
And the great thing is that it is made from two ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
Easiest Cinnamon Applesauce Fruit Leather
Ingredients:
- Unsweetened Applesauce - homemade or commercially prepared is fine. If you already add cinnamon to your home-canned applesauce, there's no need to add more.
- Cinnamon - this is the apple pie flavor, but it can be left out if you don't like it.
Additions:
- Instead of cinnamon, you can add peanut butter powder to imitate apples dipped in peanut butter
- Use pear sauce instead of applesauce if that's what you have!
- Consider adding another fruit powder such as cranberry powder or even some black pepper to elevate the flavor.
- Add full apple pie spice to give it an apple pie flavor!
Directions:
- Pour applesauce onto a fruit leather sheet.
- Spread out to within ½" of the edge (or all the way to the edge if you are using a silicone lipped-tray like these from Bright Kitchen).
- Spread the applesauce to about ¼" thickness - with the edges being a little thicker than the middle.
- Place into a 135°F / 57°C dehydrator and dry for approximately 7-10 hours.
- Once dry, place onto a piece of parchment paper, cut the leather and paper into strips, then roll the strips up, tying off with yarn or a rubber band or closing with a piece of tape.
- Alternatively, you can cut it into large squares and store it between parchment paper squares.
- Store in an airtight container for up to six months.
I'm using a Cosori 6-tray Dehydrator for this example, but any dehydrator will do!
Oven Directions:
- You can accomplish this in your oven at the lowest temperature it goes (preferably not above 200°F).
- Pour applesauce onto parchment or silicone-lined cookie sheets.
- Place in oven at 175°F / 80°C or lower if possible
- Dry for 4-5 hours until pliable and releases from sheet easily.
- Cut into strips or squares. Roll strips in parchment paper if desired.
- Store for up to six months in an airtight container.
Is it Dry?
Fruit leather should be pliable (easy to roll) , easy to remove from your sheet, and dry to the touch.
Darcy's Tips
- Use a fruit leather sheet when possible. Parchment paper can absorb the moisture from watery applesauce and make a problem for you when trying to pry your applesauce from it.
- As soon as you can pick up the leather from our sheet, flip it over to allow the underside to dry fully.
- If the fruit leather has turned hard and is brittle - enjoy it anyway! Sometimes over-drying leads to not-supple fruit leather, but it still tastes good!
- Include a strip with school lunches for a sweet treat without all the extra sugars.
Easy Apple Pie Fruit Leather
Equipment
- 2 Fruit leather sheets
Ingredients
- 1 jar applesauce
- 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
Instructions
- Pour applesauce onto a fruit leather sheet
- Spread out to within ½" of the edge (or all the way to the edge if you are using a silicone lipped-tray)
- Spread the applesauce to about ¼" thickness - with the edges being a little thicker than the middle.
- Place into a 135°F / 57°C dehydrator and dry for approximately 7-10 hours.
- Once dry, place onto a piece of parchment paper, cut both the leather and paper into strips, then roll the strips up, tying off with yarn, or a rubber band, or closing with a piece of tape.
- Alternatively, you can also just cut it into large squares and store it between parchment paper squares.
- Store in an airtight container for up to six months.
Darcy's Tips
Oven Directions:
-
- You can accomplish this in your oven at the lowest temperature it goes (preferably not above 200°F).
-
- Pour applesauce onto parchment or silicone-lined cookie sheets.
-
- Place in oven at 175°F / 80°C or lower if possible
-
- Dry for 4-5 hours until pliable and releases from sheet easily.
-
- Cut into strips or squares. Roll strips in parchment paper if desired.
-
- Store for up to six months in an airtight container.
Is it Dry?
Fruit leather should be pliable (easy to roll) , easy to remove from your sheet, and dry to the touch.Darcy's Tips
-
- Use a fruit leather sheet when possible. Parchment paper can absorb the moisture from watery applesauce and make a problem for you when trying to pry your applesauce from it.
-
- As soon as you can pick up the leather from our sheet, flip it over to allow the underside to dry fully.
-
- If the fruit leather has turned hard and is brittle - enjoy it anyway! Sometimes over-drying leads to not-supple fruit leather, but it still tastes good!
- Add apple pie spice to make it fully apple pie flavored!
- 4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimation only. Nutrient information for dehydrated foods is based on fresh. Use ¼ of the servicing size for the same nutrient information. Thus 1 Cup of fresh fruit has the same sugars as ¼ dried.
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Therese says
Hi I would like to try this recipe. New at dehydrating. What size jar do you use for this easy applesauce fruit leather?
Darcy Baldwin says
Jar size will be determined by how much you decide to store 🙂