Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Fruit Leather Failing

By now I'm sure you've all realized I have no problem sharing when a project or recipe doesn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to. Well, if you like failures, today's post should be quite fulfilling for you.

I really like fruit leather, and have since I was about 5. Everyone teased me for liking it for years, and somehow now it's becoming cool? WHAT?! Not fair. Well, if you go to the snack aisle in Target you can find about 15 different kinds of it now. Being that I'm no longer called a granny for liking it, I thought I'd try my hand at making it. There are recipes all over Pinterest, and they all include fruit, sugar, lemon juice, and water. 
Easy, right? How could you screw it up? Well, my friends, choose the recipe that tells you that making it on wax paper will work, and THAT'S how you screw it up. I read it and thought "Hm, that seems odd!" but figured the cook must be right. I know realize they must have meant parchment paper, because fun fact:
WAX PAPER IN THE OVEN MELTS LIKE A CRAYON AND STICKS TO EVERYTHING.

Okay. I'm sorry. I'll calm down. 
The deal is, the pieces I managed to pull off were delicious, so when I'm done being frustrated I'll make it again. 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
- 2 cups worth of chopped strawberries
- 1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (and zest if you have it!)
- 1 Tbsp white sugar (more or less to taste)
- 1 Tbsp water
- Parchment paper
- Tiny bit of butter or crisco

HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN:
1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees (this shouldn't take long!)
2. Chop up your strawberries and throw them into a sauce pan with the water and lemon juice.
3. Cook on medium low until the strawberries are bubbling slowly.
4. Throw the strawberry mixture into a food processor or blender with sugar and blend until smooth.
5. Line cookie sheet with PARCHMENT PAPER, grease/butter lightly and spread mixture until even. 
6. Place in oven and cook for 6 hours at 150. Yes, this is a long time. I know. If your oven doesn't go as low as 150, keep it as low as it'll go and slightly prop the door open! You don't want your leather to burn!
7. Let it cool, and peel it off!




Now please, please, please use parchment paper. Otherwise your wax paper will melt in with your fruit leather, making it impossible to peel off. This is what you'll end up with:
 Pathetic, I know. Also: heartbreaking. 
 I feel a little ridiculous peeling the stuff off in tiny pieces but after waiting for it for 6 hours, there was no way I was going to let it all go to waste! The tiny bits I got were delicious. 

 Anyone ruined any recipes lately to make me feel any better? 
Do share.


xo, lp

26 comments:

  1. that is hilarious and I'm SO glad you shared because I have some strawberries that I was going to try this with TODAY. Really! And I was just a bit depressed thinking I had to go rummage through pinterest to find a good recipe.

    You rock.

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    Replies
    1. haha oh i'm always here to please, lady! hope you tried it and didn't fail like i did!

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  2. HAHA I majorly failed making tortillas about a month 1/2 ago. They were wayyy too thick and kind of tasted chalky. I'm glad you showed this though! At least you got a few good bites out of it ;) xx, Allie

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  3. Haaa love it! Failures sometimes are better than successes (depending on what kind hehe!) but this looked like it would have been great!

    I'm hosting a giveaway this week for a chance to win a "Blogger's Notepad". It's the ultimate tool for keeping your blogging life organized... I'd love for you to enter! http://bit.ly/K1Dxat

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aww, sorry it didn't turn out, but at least it wasn't anything YOU did wrong! It looks like it would have been great! Let us know how your next attempt turns out!

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  5. Laura of Beauty and the Beard, righting the wrongs of Pinterest since 2012!!!
    hehe... sorry.
    I always have food failures, my most recent being that of popsicles that refused to freeze. (How dare they?!?!)

    chowing down on Fruit by the Foot constantly since 1990,
    paige

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha paige you kill me. Glad I'm not alone in the fool fail department..

      Delete
  6. I am sorry for laughing, but I couldn't help because this is so something I would do!!! You are lucky you didn't burn the place up!! Love me some fruit leather...so glad it's cool now! ;)
    xo,
    Shanna

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  7. Baaaah oh noooo! I like fruit leather too! That was rude of the Pintrest person to mix up wax and parchment paper...two totallyyy different things. I'm sorry it was a mess. :( Glad what you could salvage tasted good!

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  8. Omg Laura i LOVE fruit leather too! I always buy it at Target! I have serious respect for your attempt to make it but my laziness will cause me to continue buying it at target!! Especially the pomegranate one. YUM!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh, i'll probably keeping buying to too. SO much work for not much in the end...and I STILL haven't tried the pomegranate one, i'll have to make a trip to Target soon!

      Delete
  9. Omg Laura i love fruit leather too! I always buy the kinds at target. I have serious respect for you making your own, but my extreme laziness will cause me to continue purchasing at Target... esp the Pomegranate kind... my FAVORITE!

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  10. girl, i feel you. i've always loved fruit leather too haha. as a little kid i always would beg my dad to buy some at the natural food store (dork. haha).

    I totally want to try making it now with your tutorial! (i wish there was a way to do it in the crockpot!)

    xoxo

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