Homemade Fruit Winders recipe

Fruit Winders are always popular with children and now you can make your own! Gather up a few natural ingredients, and then cook them slowly to make fruit 'leather'. It's great fun to roll the fruit 'leather' up into spirals and your child will enjoy unravelling them to gobble them up! These homemade Fruit Winders are the perfect healthy treat for any lunchbox.

Ingredients

• 500g strawberries
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp honey (optional)
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)

Method

1. Wash and hull the strawberries and slice up the banana into chunks. Place the strawberries and banana into a food processor or blender. Blend the strawberries and banana together until they turn into a smooth purée.
2. Have a little taste of the purée. If it tastes a little tart, then add the honey and lemon juice. Alternatively, you can leave them out altogether if you prefer.
3. Place a sieve over a medium-sized saucepan; pour the purée through the sieve and into the pan. This will remove most of the seeds, but not all. You can skip this step if you don't mind the seeds!
4. Heat the purée over a low heat until it reduces by almost half. Stir continuously to avoid burning. It should take around 20 minutes until the purée is the correct consistency. To test, draw the spoon down the middle of the saucepan; it should take about 3 seconds before the purée refills the gap.
5. Preheat the oven to 70C. Line a 9x13 inch shallow baking tray with non-stick foil. It's very, very important that it's non-stick! Make sure that the dull side of the foil is facing up; this is the non-stick part.
6. Carefully pour the hot fruit purée onto the lined baking tray. Use the back of spoon to smooth the purée over the foil in a smooth even layer. The layer must be as level as possible, otherwise it will cook unevenly. Thin parts will burn and become brittle, while thick patches will be undercooked and too soft.
7. Place the purée into the oven to cook for between 3hrs - 3hrs 30 mins. It is ready when the purée is firm but slightly tacky to the touch. Turn off the oven and if possible, leave the tray in the oven as it cools.
8. Once the fruit leather is cold, very carefully peel it away from the non-stick foil. You can tip the fruit leather out onto a sheet of baking paper, cut through the paper and fruit leather, trim into strips then roll up. This is great if placing into a lunchbox. Otherwise, simply cut through the leather with a pizza wheel and roll up.