Now flavored, I spread the thickened puree into a thin rectangle on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I like to use the flatter, pre-cut sheets of parchment because they, well, lay flat without assistance. (A Silpat liner is the best pan liner to use here, as it doesn’t wrinkle in the oven. But Silpats are way more expensive than parchment, so don’t splurge if you don’t think you’ll use it again. If you’ve already got one: Great! Use it!)

Spread the reduced puree into a large, thin rectangle using a large offset pastry spatula. Photo: Kate Williams

The best tool for spreading is a large offset pastry spatula, but you can use a flexible rubber spatula if that’s what you’ve got on hand. Spread the puree as evenly as possible, aiming for around 1/8 inch in thickness. You can go thicker if you’d like, but the puree will take longer to dry out. If you go too much thinner than 1/8 inch, the resulting fruit roll-ups will be on the brittle side. (It’s also much easier to burn a super-thin sheet of puree than a thicker one.)

To dehydrate the roll-ups, you can use an oven or a dehydrator. Ovens are more common, but more finicky than a dehydrator. If you own a dehydrator, you already know how to use it, so go forth and dehydrate away! If you’re using an oven, set the temperature to the lowest possible setting. You’re aiming for a temperature between 175 and 200 degrees. My oven has vague settings, so I turn it to somewhere on the dial less than 200 but not totally off. An oven thermometer will be your friend here.

You’ll know the puree is fully dehydrated when it is no longer sticky and can be easily peeled back from the parchment paper. Photo: Kate Williams

Place the baking sheet of fruit puree in the oven and let it bake until it has transformed into flexible fruit roll-up material. It will no longer be wet and sticky, and should easily peel off of the parchment paper. This step will take anywhere from 4 to 6, or even more, hours, depending on the oven temperature, the thickness of the puree, and the amount of water still left in the fruit. My sheet of mango fruit roll-ups took 4 hours and my sheet of strawberry took close to 6 hours. Periodically check on the oven’s temperature, fiddling with the dial or opening and closing the oven door to keep the temperature in the target range.

Finally, let the dehydrated fruit roll-ups cool to room temperature before cutting them into whatever shapes you’d like. I chose to go with easy, fruit-by-the-foot style shapes here. I used a pizza wheel to cut the fruit sheets into long strips, placed the strips on clean wax paper, and rolled ‘em up.

Roll the cooled and cut fruit roll-ups on a sheet of waxed paper. Photo: Kate Williams

Recipe: DIY Fruit Roll-Ups

Makes 8 to 12 roll-ups

Note: If you’d like to double the recipe to make two sheet trays of fruit roll-ups, divide the puree into two saucepans in step 3 to decrease the time needed to reduce the puree.

Ingredients:

1-1 1/2 pounds ripe fruit (like strawberries, mangos, or apples)
Honey, to taste
Salt, to taste
Herbs, spices, and seasonings of choice, to taste (optional)

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