Rachel's Chewy Fantabulous Strawberry Uberberry Fruit Leather

If there's one sweet concoction I couldn't live without, it'd be stuff in the fruit snack/fruit leather family. I had traditional fruit leather and those Tropicana Fruitwise bars in mind when I came up with this. Please note that this is NOT a quick-fix-- this is a weekend recipe without a doubt, or something to have going in the background while you work if you work at home. Since I lack a fruit dehydrator, I had to do this the long way in the oven (convection oven, Casa Ghetto lacks a real oven.) Cooking times will definitely vary according to oven strength and altitudes.

• Ready In: 4 hrs 10 mins
• Serves: 10
• Yields: 10 bars

Ingredients

• 1  quart strawberry
• 24  ounces unsweetened applesauce
• 1  tablespoon lemon juice
• 2  tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Wash and husk the strawberries.
2. In a food processor or blender, mash up the berries to your desired consistency-- sometimes I like a total complete puree, but pulsing a few times until mostly pureed with some fruit chunks still in it is also pretty good.
3. In a large mixing bowl, dump out the applesauce and mix with the strawberry puree. Blend in the sugar and lemon juice.
4. Well-grease a 11x7 baking dish with cooking spray. Pour the mixture into the dish.
5. Bake at 250F for 4-5 hours or until set.
6. Wait for it to cool. Cut into bars, should yield about 10.
7. Wrap the bars tightly in plastic wrap and they will keep for about 2 weeks.