Want your kids to eat more veggies? Make fruit leather. You can add just about anything to some pureed fruit, and you have an easy, take along snack to keep your kids happy while on the go.
Today’s recipe was my little 2 year old’s idea. We got several sweet potatoes in our weekly CSA box, and she suggested we use them when I was trying to figure out what kind of fruit leathers to make. So, here it is: Spiced Sweet Potato Apple Fruit Leather.
I’ve made lots of fruit leathers before. My favorite are the 5 Amazing Apple Fruit Leathers I made last fall. My kids devoured those. Today’s recipe is simple: sweet potato, apple, and spices. That’s it. No added sweeteners. Just real food.
Yams are some of my favorite foods. I consider them an amazing SUPERFOOD because they are loaded with nutrient-dense goodness. Yams contain approximately 30% of your daily vitamin C requirements. Yams are also rich in Vitamin B-complex, especially B6. B vitamins are essential for your body to regulate stress and mood, along with many other metabolic functions. Because of the fiber and carbohydrate content of yams, they are an excellent source of long-lasting energy. And don’t forget about Vitamin A, Potassium, Iron, Calcium, Manganese, and Copper.
I don’t own the fancy fruit leather mats made for my dehydrator. I just never invested in them. I use sheets of unbleached parchment paper instead. It works just fine. I reuse them a couple of times. The drying time for the fruit leathers will vary depending on your dehydrator. THIS is the one I have and it took about 6 hours at 125’F.
My only complaint is that we ate almost all of them before I got to put some away for later on. Next time I will definitely double the recipe. ENJOY!
PrintSpiced Sweet Potato Apple Fruit Leathers
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes
- 3 apples
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- a pinch of clove
- a couple scrapes of whole nutmeg (like this)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400’F.
- Cut sweet potatoes in half. Peel and core your 3 apples. And place them all into a baking dish.
- Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
- Carefully remove apples and return sweet potatoes to oven (covered) and bake another 20 minutes or so, until completely soft. Allow to cool a bit.
- Gently peel the skin from the sweet potatoes and place into food processor. Add apples and spices. Puree until completely smooth.
- Cover mesh screens with unbleached parchment paper (like this) and pour mixture on top. Spread evenly until it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. Dehydrate until no longer sticky and has a smooth surface.
- Enjoy!
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Do you love sweet potatoes? You may also enjoy Honey Sesame Yams and Heavenly Sweet Potato Pudding.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy sweet potatoes? Let me know in the comments!
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suzi says
any hint as to temp and time in dehydrator? cant wait to try these!!
Katja says
My last batch took about 6 hours on 125’F. It has taken longer before. It all depends on how juicy all of your ingredients are.
Faith says
Any idea how to do this without a dehydrator?
Katja says
I know folks who make fruit leather in the oven on the lowest temperature. Just be sure to watch it as it will dry much faster than in the dehydrator. Read more about that here—> http://naturalfamilytoday.com/nutrition/how-to-make-homemade-fruit-leather-without-a-dehydrator/ 🙂 Thanks for coming by!
Heather says
I have some storage questions: what is the best way to store these? How long will they keep?
Katja says
I store mine in large mason jars in a cool place way from direct light. I sometimes, if I have one, will throw a silica pack in. Shelf life depends on how dry the fruit leathers are and how much moisture they are exposed to. We eat our pretty quickly but have found some in a jar months later that were just fine.
Stephanie says
Thanks for this! I made this fruit an vegetable leather yesterday. I left the skins on the apples for extra nutrition and need to work on spreading things more evenly in my dehydrator – I got some crispy bits – but other wise I followed exactly and came out great! Tastes like thanksgiving. 🙂
Katja Heino says
This is the one that I have and I LOVE it: https://amzn.to/2rJZLOd Really easy to use.