Homemade Fruit Roll Ups

There are about a handful of things left in life that bring out my inner child, and one of them is fruit roll ups...

Given the opportunity -- meaning the man of the house brings them home because he thinks it's funny to see me light up like a little kid -- I will eat an entire box in one sitting.

So when I saw this recipe in September's Food Network Magazine, I knew I had to give it a try.

There are several flavor options (check them out here) but I opted for Strawberry Banana and Raspberry Vanilla. While the raspberry had great color, in hindsight, I would stick to fruit with smaller/less seeds.

See, this is what fruit roll ups do to me... (Cupcakes and tiaras aye? I guess somethings never change)

Shopping List for Strawberry Banana (from Food Network Magazine)
3 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped
2 medium bananas, peeled
3/4 Cup sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Non stick foil or a silicone mat
Parchment paper

Transfer the pureed fruit to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally at first and then more often toward the end, until most of the liquid evaporates and the mixture is very thick, 35 to 45 minutes. Be careful: The mixture may splatter.

Line a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with a silicone mat or nonstick foil. Use an offset spatula to spread the fruit on the mat or foil into a thin layer. Bake at 200 degrees, until barely tacky, 3 hours to 3 hours, 30 minutes.

Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the fruit leather cool completely. Peel off of the mat or foil. If the leather is still moist on the underside, return it to the oven, moist-side up, until dry, about 20 more minutes.

TRICK: Since I used foil, I cut off the outer edges of the foil with scissors so it was a thick clean square layer of fruit leather on foil that I would begin peeling off

Once removed from foil, lay the leather smooth-side down on a parchment paper and use kitchen shears to cut it into strips on the paper. Roll up the strips and store in zip-top bags for up to 1 week.