Oh my gosh guys, my computer is broken! So scary. I definitely take my computer for granted and don’t realize how much I rely on it until I can’t use it! Augggh.
My super nice computer friend is in the process of trying to fix it (fingers crossed.) But, for now I’m blogging from one of my kids computers. Yikes.
We went up to my sister and brother-in-law’s house on Sunday night. The kids love playing with their cousins and we had a fun time playing Dominion. If you’re not familiar with Dominion, you should be. It’s a very fun game.
I brought one of my “meals” with me so I would have something to eat!
I brought an individual bag of kettle corn along with some turkey. I also snagged some leftover scrambled eggs and a couple slices of turkey bacon from my sis to make sure I got enough protein in. It was actually really good!
I also snapped this darling picture of my baby with the dogs…
I laughed so hard when I saw this. Who knew that Goldfish crackers could be so powerful!!? I think my son felt pretty dang cool. 😉 And, I think the dogs saw him as a pretty easy target.
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I’ve been wanting to share my Dried Pears and Pear Leather processes with all y’all. They are seriously so so so good! I’ve been following the Body For Life diet really well, but these pear things have been my undoing! I’ve overdosed on them a few times. I usually try to eat some protein with them so I can officially count it as a meal though.
With that being said, I’ve decided these should be called Pear Crack. They are crazy good and extremely addicting. 😉
Sooooo, now all you guys can all be addicted too!
Oh and BTW, I made most of my dried pears in the dehydrator, but I decided to make one batch in the oven too. For some reason my oven batch didn’t turn out so well. It still tasted okay, but the texture wasn’t the same and it took FOREVER to dry them. My oven has issues sometimes, so it could just be my oven. Anyway, I will share instructions for both ways in case you want to dry them in your oven.
How to Make Dried Pears
You will need:
- a bunch of pears
- a non-reactive bowl
- a sharp knife
- a cutting board
- an apple corer (optional)
- vinegar
- lemon juice
- A dehydrator or oven
That’s it!
First you need to clean your pears.
- Soak them for about 20 minutes in a big non-reactive bowl with a little bit of lemon juice and vinegar mixed in (about a tablespoon of each.)
Rinse with clean water.
Prepare your pears. You can peel your pears if you want, but I decided to leave the skins on. Pear skins are so thin that I don’t mind them left on (I do peel my apples before drying them though.)
I used an apple corer to core my pears and then I cut them into slices about 1/4″-1/2″ thick. I also cut off any goobers and major brown spots too. BTW, I bought my apple corer at Target for 5 or 6 bucks.
Immediately after slicing, drop pears into a big (non-reactive) bowl of water with a little bit of lemon juice mixed in (about 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice per gallon of water.) This helps to prevent browning.
Allow to soak for about 10 minutes.
Note: I made a bunch of batches of dried pears. I skipped this step (soaking in lemon water) for a few of my batches and I didn’t really notice a difference. You can skip this step if you want.
Spray a dehydrator tray with cooking spray (or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner) and lay out the pears on the tray. The pears can touch each other, but make sure to not overlap them.
Fill up all the trays of your dehydrator with pears (I have four trays)…
Set the dehydrator to 135 degrees or set the oven to the lowest temperature possible (mine was 170 degrees.)
Dehydrate the pears until they are completely dry. You can test the pears by breaking off a piece and seeing if any liquid comes out. Your pears are done when they are not sticky and no liquid can be squeezed out.
My dehydrator took about 11 hours and my oven took 24-25 hours!! BTW, I think next time I make dried pears in the oven I might try putting them on a rack of some sort. We’ll see….
**Note: the drying time will vary depending on how thick you cut the pears. Thinly sliced pears may only take 6-8 hours, but thicker ones will take longer.**
When Kev got home from work I found him snitching some of my dried pears before they were even all the way dry!
Then I looked at my dehydrator and realized a whole tray was missing and Kev had a guilty look on his face. 😉 Then my kids figured out how good they were and ended up eating a bunch of them before they were completely done too.
When my batch was complete, I probably only had just over a tray left!
I made several batches of dried pears; probably four or five. I loved putting them in the dehydrator just before we went to bed and then they would be almost done by morning. It was pretty slick.
When the pears were done, I put them in a big Ziploc bag and kept them in the fridge.
These are so so so dang good!
Seriously, I know you guys will love these! In fact, I’ve decided that pears are my favorite dried fruit. They taste just like candy!
Well, I’m getting ready to head out to the gym and this post is already long enough so I better run. I will share my pear leather “recipe” soon! I love you all!
This really looks good. I could pack this and take this with me in the office, Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks, I hope you love them!