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For me, one of the great sites and smells of summer is a big basket of fresh peaches. We love eating them so much in my house that I tend to go a bit overboard at the farmers’ market every Sunday and buy way more than we could possibly eat in a week. As the days go by, some get bruises while others become uber soft and juicy. Unless you want to eat peaches for every meal there’s nothing you can really do with them except….make fruit leather!
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If you think my kids like eating peaches, you should just see how excited they get for this homemade fruit leather. They go through it so quickly I tend to make about three batches a week, but one of the great things about this recipe is that it stays good for weeks, if not longer.
Peach Fruit Leather
Ingredients
- 4 ripe peaches (skin on)
- 1 tablespoon honey (optional if fruit isn’t ripe enough)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225 F degrees.*
- Rinse and remove seeds from peaches.
- Place the peaches and honey in a blender and puree until smooth.
- Pour the mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spread with the back of a spoon or spatula in a large rectangle (my rectangle was 11 x 15 inches) making sure that the thickness is completely even.
- Bake for 3-4 hours or until dry and not sticky to the touch. Remember, cooking times will vary depending on how thick you spread your mixture and how much water (juice) is naturally in the fruit.**
- Set aside and cool at room temperature; it takes several hours for the fruit to soften up. Note that when you first take the fruit leather out of the oven, the edges will be a bit dry and crispy, but if you allow it to sit out for several hours it softens up nicely.
- Cut with a knife, pizza cutter or scissors into strips, keeping the paper on if desired, then roll the leather into “roll ups”.
- * If you choose to use a dehydrator, cook the fruit leather at 135 degrees for 5 hours.
- ** Every oven is different, so the cooking time maybe less than 2 hours if your oven tends to run hot.
I have some peaches that were on their way out, as well as plums. I’ve mixed them together to try it out. Can’t wait!!!
Tried this over the weekend. I accidentally burned the edges a little bit, but the good part was sooooo good!
We used agave nectar and it turned out great! We swapped equal amounts.
I was wondering the same thing. Often times agave is interchangeable with honey…but I know it’s a lot thinner. I think I may try it tomorrow…I’ll let you know if it holds up!
Will agave work instead of honey?
Wow, I am so excited that this recipe seems so simple. (Well, not that I’ll get it the first try, but it’s so few ingredients.)I had no idea you could make fruit leather. I am trying to learn more healthy recipes for my family. After reading this Mom’s Guide (http://www.1dental.com/moms-guide/) I started taking inventory of what I feed my son, especially – so much sugar and processed food. Snacks like this peach leather will be a much better choice for us. I am glad I found your blog!
I just put this in the oven (using 2 peaches & 1 1/2 c. strawberries) and even using 2 baking sheets, it still seems like I had to spread the mixture really thick to use it all. Should I have not been baking a whole recipe-worth at once, or should it be that way?
If you try it let me know how it turns out. I was thinking about trying pumpkin and pineapple.
Thanks for the recipe! I just noticed Trader Joe’s carries fruit & veggie leather. Do you think I could add some pureed veggies in with the peaches and still get a good leather?
Fantastic! My 3yo will love this new-to-her way to eat fruit. I think I had one of these in my lunch every day of elementary school. 🙂
Yum. I just bought fruit leather at the grocery store and then got back to my desk and saw this. I’m totally kicking myself since this looks so much more delicious!
I know this is a site for baby food, but I’d make this for us to have as a healthy snack! We don’t have a food dehydrator, so this recipe is great!
Got way too many Rainer Cherries, any suggestions for cherry leather? use applesauce as Sarah suggested?
I can’t wait to try this. I have cherries and blueberries I could use up…
The peach leather will stay good for at least a month. I would freeze the the peaches and then make the fruit leather in the winter.
Can it be frozen? Peach season is so short and we are always looking for ways to have local fruit available when the snow flies.