It's the most wonderful time of the year! PEACH SEASON! I am addicted to peaches.. All growing up we would get our peaches from "the peach man", as we liked to call him, and I would eat maybe 7 or 8 a day. Yep, you read that right. Seven or eight peaches A DAY! I am not exaggerating, you can ask my mother. I have had to learn some self control over the years due to the fact that I'm a dental assistant and now realize how bad too much acidic fruit is for your teeth. I now limit myself to just 2 or 3 a day (probably still too many) whenever it is peach season. It's been hard, but the bag of peaches lasts longer right?
Jordan is the best husband and figured out early on in our relationship how deep my love is for peaches. A few months into our marriage he picked me up from work and said, "I have a surprise for you." I immediately responded with, "Peaches??". He could not believe I knew what he got me. He was trying to surprise me! I guess I just have a sixth sense when it comes to peaches.
This week instead of just eating them all as usual, I decided to spare a few and make fruit leather. Jordan's sister gave us some apricot fruit leather last year and it was so delicious so we figured why not try and make fruit leather with peaches? This recipe uses just 4 ingredients and is very simple to make. We don't have a dehydrator so we just use our oven and it works great. Feel free to add in or switch out different types of fruit if you'd like!
1 cup peeled, sliced peaches
2 cups chopped strawberries
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar (whichever you prefer!)
Directions
Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or preferably a silicone baking mat.
Place peaches and strawberries in a medium saucepan over medium heat (just a little higher than medium actually). Add lemon juice, honey or agave nectar, and 1/2 cup water. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove fruit mixture from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
Place fruit mixture in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl. Pour the fruit mixture onto your lined baking sheet and with a spatula evenly spread to all corners of pan (about 1/4 inch thick).
Place baking sheets in oven and let cook for 6-8 hours.
Depending on your oven, after 3 hours of baking, drizzle water along the edges if they are getting too dry already. Place back into oven for 3 more hours.
Bake until the center is slightly sticky. If you are worried about some parts baking faster than others, feel free to cut them off and stick the rest of the pan back in to cook longer. We had to do this a few times since our oven cooks so unevenly.
Cut into strips and roll them in parchment paper or plastic wrap to store. Enjoy!