Time to go back to being a kid today.
Please tell me you guys grew up eating Fruit Roll Ups??? Like please?!? I certainly did. I loved them, even the brothers loved them. We all loved them…and…well, you get the point. My all time favorites were Fruit by the Foot. A whole foot of fruity flavor! Also, Gushers. Does anyone remember those?!? You guys, I really wasn’t one for candy of any kind, but for some reason, I really liked Fruit Roll Ups, Gushers and Fruit Snacks. I first gave up on Gushers (the filling started to gross me out), then Fruit Roll Ups and then Fruit Snacks. I was majorly bummed the day I realized these fruity snacks where just completely sugar and…fake fruit 🙁 Like what?!? You mean they are not a healthy snack? They don’t count as fruit? What the, what?! So freaking lame.
Anyway, to this day my brothers still squeal with excitement (literally) over Gushers and Fruit by the Foot. Mom would only buy the regular square fruit rolls ups when we were kids because they were always cheaper. But on the rare occasion she would splurge and get the Fruit by the Foot or Gushers we’d eat them all within lthe day (I think that’s another reason she never bought them). Whoever said being a kid was not the best thing ever was totally lying. Four thoughts to confirm: carelessness, sugar, zero taxes, summer vacations! Just sayin. A lot of times mom would hide all the fruit snack-like items saying they were only for school lunches. Of course the brothers (3 above me, 2 below) would find them all, eat them and have no remorse. I would not have done this, but I think by this time I had given up on eating those sugary snacks. Again, I pretty much sucked all the fun out of being a kid. <–Sad, but kind of true now that I think about it. Maybe that’s why I want to go back and just be a normal kid? So heyyy, you think since I wasn’t the typical kid growing up that I could like take a week and be like ten again?? Hmmm. How would that work? Probably…thinking that’s totally not gonna happen. Great concept, but unfortunately, that’d be weird… don’t think I could do it.
The good news here is that what I can do is make healthy imitations. YES. My dreams have come true!! No really. I actually tried to do this last summer and failed miserably and I now know why. I think I knew it then too, but honestly, I was just too defeated to get up and try again. So I waited a good year and then, I NAILED it. Nice. The first time around I had two problems. One patience – UGH…story of my life. The second problem – these fruit rolls ups need at least six hours in a super low temperature oven. This is a MUST! The first time I tried to rush it. DO NOT do this! These cannot be rushed. I recommend either starting these in the morning or starting them just before bed. OK, and I just have to mention that even though these do require a lot of time in the oven, the prep time and the time involved in actually making them is minimal. Like five minutes people. It really does not get easier. Don’t freak over the cooking time, k? While I tried to not add ANY form of sugar in making these fruit roll-ups…I don’t actually recommend it. However, I used only healthy honey in the recipe (which isn’t actual SUGAR). I think the honey REALLY helped to give these the right amount of stickiness and chewiness. If you want to make these vegan, brown rice syrup can also be used.
For my flavors, I went with mango-peach, strawberry and strawberry-blackberry swirl, BUT, you can really use any fruit you’d like. They all work, some maybe a little better than others, but with the addition of honey in my recipe, most fruits should work out great. That said, mangos pretty much make a KILLER fruit roll up. Like the perfect texture. I also feel I should mention that these got double thumbs up from everyone. We all agreed that they are just like the real thing, but better, sweeter and so much healthier. SCORE!
Oh and umm, isn’t my little model the cutest?? Photographing her + late summer berries, just makes my day. Double oh, Asher cannot wait to pack the snacks in her lunch box. So you see, they even have the kid seal of approval. Triple Oh, Asher starts school today! AND…she is actually trying to convince my mom to homeschool her…and… my mom is actually thinking about it! I told my mom one very important thing. YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND! I know homeschooling is for some people, but it’s not for my mom (she’s crazy busy for one), and it’s definitely not for Asher. The girl acts like a teenager, she is a social bug and would be bored to death all year.
Snack time? I do think so.
