Peach-Apricot Fruit Leather

So the other day, a friend and I went to a local farm.

First of all, if you've never been to a peach orchard - go. Now.

The smell alone is worth the trip.

I planned on picking a few pounds - enough to eat and make a pie or two.

The kids had other ideas.

Guess how many peaches I came home with.

Just guess.

20 POUNDS.

So now, along with freezing 10 lbs of peaches, I'm making fruit leather!

I bought a dehydrator a few weeks ago, and I might be a little obsessed with using it.

If you don't have fresh peaches, frozen will work.

But, trust me, fresh from the tree is best!

Peach-Apricot Fruit Leather

Ingredients:

4 - 5 Large peaches

3 Tbsp. Apricot preserves

1/3 cup Honey

2 Tbsp. Vanilla

3 Tbsp Cinnamon sugar 

First, you need to peel and pit your peaches. The easiest way to do this is to blanch them and peel the skin off. Start by making a small X in the skin.

Dunk the peaches in boiling water for 30 secs or so, and then immediately put them in a bowl of ice water.

The skin should peel off pretty easily after that. 

Then cut them in half and take the pit out.

Don't eat them yet! (Ok, eat one. JUST ONE.)

Put them in a medium saucepan and add the rest of the ingredients.

I had some sugar that I had stored with some vanilla beans in it - so good! I added some cinnamon to it and put it on toast for breakfast, so I just used the rest in this recipe. Extra sugar is definitely not needed, so if you just want to add a pinch of cinnamon, it would still be great.

Simmer over medium until the peaches are very soft. It only takes a few minutes.

Put your fruit mix in a blender and blend until smooth.

Now you're ready for the dehydrator.

I should have taken a picture, but I lined my dehydrator with parchment paper. 

I laid down my paper, traced the dehydrator tray, and then cut it out. 

Pretend there's a picture here.

Alternatively, you can bake these in your oven - just set the temp as low as you can.

These are beyond delicious. They're even better than the kind you buy at Trader Joe's!

I *might* even like them better than a fresh peach.