Back to School Snacks – Homemade Fruit Leather

Variety keeps school snacks going throughout the year and here are 10 more snack ideas perfect for school! Including a Homemade Fruit Leather you AND your kids will love. Ideal snacks for kids that are low on sugar and high on flavour. 

I’m back with 10 more snack ideas perfect for school, including a fun and healthy Homemade Apple and Raspberry Fruit Leather. It’s a great snack for kids. These lasted all of about 2 days in our house, my kids inhaled them.

Homemade Fruit Leather and Sliced Cucumber

The fruit leather recipe is originally from Leah Garrad-Cole‘s cookbook “It All Begins with Food” which is a great source for kid-friendly healthy recipes. It’s also fantastic resource for general food information (as I chatted about in this post). I had to tweak the instructions a bit to work with my oven (round one of the fruit leather went to the oven as I burnt it) so I added a couple of notes in the recipe card to help guide you towards success the first time around.

Leah’s recipe is spot on for perfect some fruit leather nuances, like using a silicone mat and the ingredients. The apples and raspberries have just the right amount of natural sweetness and require no other ingredients.

I paired the fruit leather with sliced cucumbers from Windset Farms for extra vitamins and a great way to get my kids daily intake of veggies up. If you remember from this Back to School Snack post, I love Windset’s pest management system that reduces the amount of pesticides sprayed on locally grown mini vegetables.

Dried Apricots and Cheddar Sandwich Crackers

Dried apricots are a great dried fruit to toss into any snack pack when the middle of winter hits and there’s not a lot of fresh fruit floating around. The dried apricots shown above are sulphur-free which means they weren’t exposed to sulphur which is commonly used to preserve dried fruit. Dried apricots are high in Vitamin A and fibre making them a really good choice for any kid who is weary of carrots or sweet potatoes (like my picky eater).

Cheddar Sandwich Crackers are a fav over here (they also go well with wine for my fellow parents out there!).

Sugar Snap Peas w/ Lemon Garlic Yogurt Dip and 1/2 Banana

My kids adore peas and sugar snap peas. They’re sweet, crunchy and perfect to dip into a savoury yogurt dip. I mix thick Greek yogurt with minced or finely grated garlic and juice from lemon.

This dip is always a winner. Add dill or other fresh herbs if you need to take it up a notch. 1/2 banana is a good one (wrap the cut side in plastic wrap or reusable beeswax paper) and allows preschoolers to practice peeling them.

Cheddar Crackers and Dried Fruit

The above photo is the good old cheddar crackers (use the brand your kids and you like the most) and dried fruit. I like using dried cranberries and blueberries when I can find them on sale to mix things up. This snack is usually something my kids will see in the midst of winter when fresh fruit isn’t as abundant or I frankly haven’t made it to the grocery store in a while.

Cereal and cut Grapes

I don’t think cereal is just for breakfast. It was a personal favourite of mine to feed my babies when they were younger to practice fine motor skills (dexterity) and when I’m in a pinch cereal will do for preschool snack too!

More recipes and snacks for kids:

• Kid-Friendly Energy Bites and 9 other healthy snacks for kids
• Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Loaf and 9 other school safe snack ideas
• Kamut Marshmallow Squares and 9 other snacks

5 from 1 vote

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Homemade Fruit Leather

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Resting in oven

2 hrs

Total Time

10 mins

 

Healthy, homemade Apple and Raspberry Fruit Leather. The tastiest homemade school snack for kids!

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: backt to school snacks, easy snack idea, fruit leather

Author: Samantha

Ingredients

• 4-5 cups peeled and chopped apples (around 4-5 medium, Leah recommends using Golden Delicious)
• 1/2 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 2 tbsp water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 175° F.

   Line a medium baking sheet with a silicone baking sheet or non-stick paper.

2. Place apples, raspberries, and water in a medium covered saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes or until soft.

3. Transfer saucepan contents to a blender and blend on high until smooth. Pour onto baking sheet and spread evenly to around 1/4" thick*.

4. Bake for 2-3 hours or until fruit is just starting to dry out. Turn off oven and let fruit leather sit in warm oven with the door closed for 3-4 more hours or until fruit leather is done**.

5. Once cooled, cut the fruit leather into striped and roll. Separate with non-stick paper or roll tightly.

6. Fruit leather will keep for up to a month at room temperature (IF it lasts that long).

Recipe Notes

* Try to make sure the borders of the fruit leather are as thick as the middle otherwise they will likely burn.

** Drying out time can vary oven to oven. I'd recommend keeping a close eye on the fruit puree while it's in the oven as it can quickly go from fine to burnt. Leah, the author of the original recipe had the fruit leather in the oven 6-7 hours at 170° F (my own won't go that low so I had to adapt the recipe accordingly).

This post is sponsored by Leah Garrad-Cole (fruit leather) and Windset Farms (cucumbers).

Enjoy! xo