Strawberry Fruit Leather

I love strawberry season. We have a lot of strawberry farms in Queensland, and at this time of the year they are plentiful and sweet. Yesterday I bought 700g of strawberries for 69 cents at the local fruit market! Mind you, most of them needed to be used within the next day or two, but they're perfect to chop up and freeze for smoothies and the likes. It's awesome news for me, considering my son eats a punnet of strawberries a day (who could stop him when they re so good for you?)
I recently stumbled across a recipe for fruit leather and thought this was the perfect opportunity to use the strawberries. We have some cooler weather at the moment, so having the oven on for the whole day wasn't a problem for me, although you probably wouldn't want to make this leathery goodness on any day over 20C, because it does warm the house up somewhat. The good news is, if you have a nice sunny day you can sun bake the strawberry puree to cook it instead. Now how good does that sound!
There are so many wonderful things about this recipe. Firstly if you're baking it in the house, you will have a day of strawberry scented everything, and its divine. Secondly, you wont be able to stop eating this stuff its so delicious, so you'll have a belly full of it too. Anyone for a strawberry roll-up? Brings me back to when I was a kid! Scroll down, I'll have you strawberry lovers drooling in no time...

STRAWBERRY FRUIT LEATHER (adapted from Georgia Pellegrini)

2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup white sugar (optional)
1 tbsp oil to grease

Preheat the oven to 70C.
Cut up the strawberries and stew for a few minutes in the water over a low heat until mushy. Place with the lemon juice in a food processor and blend until thoroughly pureed. Add sugar to sweeten as desired.
Grease and line a 22 x 33 inch tray with greaseproof paper or plastic wrap (the temperature of the oven will be too low to affect the plastic). Grease the top with oil.
Pour the puree into the tray, smoothing with a spatula until evenly distributed.
Cook for 5-6 hours in the oven or the sun, making sure there is regular air flow if using an oven so as to avoid scorching.
Remove and cool and then cut into strips. Enjoy!

NOTES: You can use any type of fruit for this recipe. Stewing the fruit first keeps the colour vibrant and easier to puree. Some fruits may need a little longer in the oven. Depending on the sweetness of the fruit, you may not want to add the sugar to the recipe. A pizza wheel is a great way to cut the leather, or a pair of kitchen scissors.