How can I make this raw?

[juliebove]

I am currently making a recipe for breakfast "cookies" that is in the dehydrating book that I bought. They are actually more like small round pieces of fruit leather but with added ingredients. So far so good, even though they're not totally raw. I presume there must be a way to make them raw though.

The recipe in the book calls for:

1 cup cut up fresh fruit (they suggest peach, pear, banana)
1/2 cup milk powder (I used Vance's Dari Free, a potato based powder)
1/2 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 t. vanilla

Wheat germ, shredded coconut, nuts, seeds or bits of dried fruit for decoration.

You puree all but the decorating items until smooth, then put in 2" circles on the fruit leather sheets that have been lightly oiled. Dehydrate for about 5 hours or until you can peel them off. Then flip them over and dehydrate for about another 5 hours.

Now I also amended this recipe to add a bit of coconut oil to the puree. Perhaps a mistake because it seems to be seeping out into little puddles, but then oddly dehydrating itself into nothing. This is what I used to oil the sheets with as well. And since the Dari Free already has a bit of a vanilla flavor to it, I added less of that and also some cinnamon. I used Granny Smith apples for the fruit and assorted bits of dried fruit to decorate the tops. They're actually really cute!

So now what I need to do is find replacements for the OJ concentrate and the milk. I was thinking maybe just a whole orange or two pureed and perhaps some finely chopped nuts or coconut. But I don't know if this would work or not.

Has anyone made anything similar to this? Even if this stuff doesn't turn into fruit leather like the book says it will, it smells wonderful in the dehydrator and the flavor is divine! It would be good served just like that as a pudding or perhaps frozen. Just have to work out the details of the substitutions.

[rawpriestess]

I'd use coconut shreads dried as the milk, and I'd dehydrate orange juice to use as the concentrate, it may take a while, but orange juice concentrate is VERY intense in flavor, WOW!!!, so i'd try dehydrating it to see if it would work, what could you lose? some oranges? yep!

I'd still try it though.

[juliebove]

I'd use coconut shreads dried as the milk, and I'd dehydrate orange juice to use as the concentrate, it may take a while, but orange juice concentrate is VERY intense in flavor, WOW!!!, so i'd try dehydrating it to see if it would work, what could you lose? some oranges? yep!

I'd still try it though.

Ah... I thought about dehydrating juice but wasn't sure you could do it. These are getting a very intense orange flavor the longer they dehydrate. I shouldn't be eating them because I'm reacting to the orange. I'm making them for my daughter. She doesn't have a problem with oranges. If I make them for myself I guess I'll have to come up with an alternate juice to use.

[rawpriestess]

HUMMM, well, do you react to lemon? lime? pineapple? those might be good too.


You could try a more intense orange flavor, like tangerine or clementine, and not dehydrate it?

or you could try something entirely different, like kiwi, I love kiwis, and they can be intense, although green, so I don't know if that would look icky or not.

let us know what you decide to do, we can always use great new recipes for our dehydrators.

[juliebove]

HUMMM, well, do you react to lemon? lime? pineapple? those might be good too.


You could try a more intense orange flavor, like tangerine or clementine, and not dehydrate it?

or you could try something entirely different, like kiwi, I love kiwis, and they can be intense, although green, so I don't know if that would look icky or not.

let us know what you decide to do, we can always use great new recipes for our dehydrators.

Lemon and lime are fine for me. Raw pineapple is no go. Instant reaction from that. Canned pineapple never gave me that reaction, although I haven't eaten any in many years. I can't take bromelian supplements either. They give me the same reaction that raw pineapple does. I'm thinking lemon would be good with the apple flavor. Might have to add some sort of berries or something to it so it wouldn't be so tart.

[juliebove]

Okay... I tried this again with some modifications. I didn't exactly measure everything so I can't give exact measurements. I pureed three granny smith apples, including the peels, 8 big strawberries, 6 bing cherries, about a handful and a half of blueberries, a handful of shredded coconut, the juice of two lemons and a bit of cinnamon and vanilla. The taste was very tart so I added just a touch of agave nectar. Maybe 2 t. or so.

The reason I added the berries and cherries this time was for two reasons. One, the original recipe looked a bit too much like puke to make it attractive after it dehydrated. And two, I was trying to use up some of the fruit I had. I bought the blueberries thinking my husband might eat them. But he didn't. And while I know that blueberries are very good for you, I don't care for them. I can eat them chopped or pureed in with other berries because then their taste isn't so overpowering.

After I determined that the puree tasted good, I spooned it out onto the fruit leather sheets that had been very lightly oiled with coconut oil. Turns out adding the coconut oil to my previous (non raw) batch wasn't necessarily a good thing to do. The end result was rather greasy, even though I kept blotting them up as they dehydrated. That batch also took a lot longer than the 10 hours to dehydrate. I rather liked them. Daughter ate a piece but said it wouldn't be her first choice. Husband just discovered them and shouted "Whose are THESE?" Apparently they looked good to him. Don't know if he'll eat them or like them though.

Anyway... I spooned out the puree into 2" circles, keeping them closer to the outside edge. I have the American Harvest dehydrator and it seems to dehydrate the outer edge first. I left about an inch between each little spoonful, however these did not seem to spread out like the non-raw batch did. I then topped them with some walnut pieces. Next time I think I will mix the pieces in with a spoon because they are not sticking very well to the tops.

This batch seems to be dehydrating very quickly! I've already been able to flip over three of the trays. The tray that was on the top hadn't firmed up quite enough yet at about the 2 hour mark. But it seemed close. I merely flipped the little fruit patties over and am dehyrating the other side.

I think I have a winner here! I was hoping these might be more like Applets and Cotlets type things, but the taste isn't the same. Then again, those are rolled in powedered sugar and are very sweet. These are neither too sweet nor too tart and while it's still too early to tell, I think the end result will be something a bit softer than fruit leather. Perhaps this is due to the addition of the coconut. Not sure.

Just checked them again and flipped that last tray over. Texture is still softish but a bit like a jelly candy. Not getting tough. Heh! Husband has discovered those as well!

[rawpriestess]

sounds great!!!!


keep us posted on your wonderful successes,


and just to let you know, almost ALL of my "failures" have turned into something truly amazing, although different, than what I "thought" I was making. LOL

[juliebove]

sounds great!!!!


keep us posted on your wonderful successes,


and just to let you know, almost ALL of my "failures" have turned into something truly amazing, although different, than what I "thought" I was making. LOL

Well, I think my husband ate the first batch. I told him if he didn't like them to put them back in the fridge and he didn't. I also didn't hear him screaming and he would do that if he didn't like them. He can be very dramatic. I must say they did look like cookies. And oddly, they had almost a texture like a cookie made with flour would have, but that could be from the milk substitute I put in them. He just shouted "Cookies" and took the whole bag. I never bring cookies or anything like that into the house any more unless it's something special for my daughter or unless he tells me to buy it.

[juliebove]

Update on my raw batch. They are yummy! Yummy to the point of being addictive. They remind me of a cranberry salad my mom used to make at holiday time. Had lemon or orange gelatin, walnuts, apples, sometimes celery, sometimes grapes, and of course cranberries! Next time I certainly will stir the walnuts into the mix instead of putting them on top. The mixture was not as sticky as I thought it would be so they're not all staying stuck. But they are delicious!