Appetizers & Snacks Recipes

Pumpkin Pie Leather Recipe

When I was a kid, one of the most sought after snacks at school was the Fruit Roll-up. Man, I loved those thin sheets of deliciously sweet fruit leather, stuck on a plastic film, all conveniently packaged to go. (Strawberry and grape were the best flavours ever!) I was feeling a bit of nostalgia when I picked up a box of strawberry Fruit Roll-ups in the grocery store the other day. I reminisced about sitting at my desk and triumphantly pulling that Fruit Roll-up out of my lunch bag. The sweet smell that made my mouth water the moment I opened up the package.

And then I turned the box over and took a look at the ingredients list: corn syrup, dried corn syrup, sugar, pear puree concentrate, palm oil. Notice anything missing? Where are the strawberries? If you have to go four ingredients down before touching on anything fruitish, it’s not really fruit anything, is it? I can do better!

Pumpkin pie meets fruit roll-up! This homemade pumpkin pie leather is the best of both worlds minus all the sugar. Great for snacking and school lunches!

A couple of weeks ago I showed you how easy it is to make homemade pumpkin puree. What if I used this to make some homemade fruit leather? Given the season, let’s make pumpkin pie leather! What a great fall treat – it’s like pumpkin pie to go!

The base of this fruit leather is made from a combination of pumpkin puree and unsweetened applesauce. Yes, you can buy these ready made, but you can easily make your own too. Here are directions for making pumpkin puree, and here’s how I make my homemade applesauce. (For this recipe I skipped adding the spices to my applesauce and just used it plain.)

I added coconut cream (the thick, creamy part off the top of a can of chilled full-fat coconut milk) for the creaminess of a good pumpkin pie, maple syrup for a touch of sweetness, and lemon juice to brighten the flavour. Then some vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, a touch of all spice, and a pinch of sea salt. I pureed everything as smooth as possible and spread it out in a thin layer (aim for 1/8 of an inch) on a couple of parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

Spread the pumpkin puree in a thin layer over parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

Here’s one of those times I wish I had a dehydrator. But I don’t, so I used my oven on low instead. I set it at 170 degrees on the convection setting. If you don’t have a convection oven that’s fine, it might just take a little longer. If your oven doesn’t go that low, put it on the lowest setting and leave the oven door slightly ajar. It took about six and a half hours for mine to be done.

You can see that as it dried, it darkened. The parchment paper wrinkled a little when it got wet, and those wrinkles caused little cracks when it dried. It doesn’t affect the taste at all, but it’s not as pretty as if I’d done this on a silicon mat instead. I think I need to invest in a couple of those for next time.

Anyway, you can tell your pumpkin pie leather is ready when it’s dry to the touch and easily peels off the parchment paper. I cut it into strips and rolled it up. Ta-da! Homemade fruit roll-ups made entirely from real, whole foods, with enough sugar to taste good, but not so much that I don’t feel comfortable feeding this to my girls.

Pumpkin Pie Leather Roll-ups are like pumpkin pie on the go!

Pumpkin Pie Leather

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups pumpkin puree
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce make your own
  • 1 cup coconut cream
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup or raw honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon allspice
  • pinch of sea salt

Instructions
 

  • Puree all ingredients together in food processor or blender.
  • Pour mixture over cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
  • Place in oven to dehydrate at 170 degrees for 6-8 hours.
This post is linked up to some fantastic recipe link parties. Check out my Link Parties page to see where I’m linking up and to find some wonderful blogs and more amazing recipes!

Leave a Comment

33 Comments

  • This looks great and really easy! I used to love Fruit Roll Ups as a kid, but when I read the ingredient list I was shocked by the listed ingredients… This is definitely a better option!

  • This sounds really good, and pretty easy to make too! I can’t wait to make these for my family, thanks! πŸ™‚

  • This sounds truly delicious and maybe even a little addictive! Mmmm..hope I can find the coconut cream in the grocery store.I have never seen it before,but maybe that’s because I never went looking for it. πŸ™‚

  • Oh my goodness this looks so delicious and reminds me of my childhood when we would always buy fruit leather every time we went to the store my kids want to buy fruit leather I never buy it for them No so we will definitely have to make this healthy recipe that sounds so delicious especially in season for the holidays

  • Yum!! Pumpkin is my favorite!! Can’t wait to try this!! Love that I’ll know exactly what goes into it!! πŸ˜‰

  • these look yummy and thanks for sharing this recipe with us im gonna make these for my kids and grandson they would love this

  • This is such a tasty idea! I love the mixture of flavors you used too. My grandson would certainly enjoy making & eating these delicious snacks. Thanks for the inspiration. πŸ™‚

  • Oh what a neat idea! I have not seen a recipe for these before…what a great idea! I have to try this…I think he would love them! Fun for fall and Thanksgiving!

  • This is brilliant. I make fruit rolls ups all the time, but always looking for a new flavor, and this is perfect! I will be making tomorrow. Thank you for the inspiration.

  • This sounds great for my health nutty daughter. Also pumpkin loving. wow she will be in over the moon with this snack. Thank You.

  • (Pumpkin Pie Leather Recipe) If I am not mistaken this is just like when you make your own homemade jerky right? It sounds so good to me.

  • I have only given my kids store-bought fruit roll-ups a couple times in their lives– the ingredient list is just plain nasty! So they’ve been omitted from our house. This is a nice homemade way to bring them back!

  • This recipe sounds really yummy and unique, I love pumpkin pie, so definitely need to check it out, thanks!

  • I’ve never heard of this before but I must say it’s very interesting and it seems healthy too.

  • I have always wanted to make fruit leathers and I think this pumpkin leather would be a delicious one with which to begin. Thank you for sharing.