Easy Oven-Dried Strawberry Leather Slices

It's strawberry season!  If you find yourself with an overabundance of strawberries as we have, consider drying them.  When you dry fresh fruit, most of the nutritional value is retained and it lasts weeks longer than if it was fresh.  Dried strawberries make a delicious snack on their own and they also are a great complement to cereal, granola and yogurt.  These are wonderfully sweet, delightfully chewy and slightly sticky... think Craisins.  The addition of tarragon gives the strawberries an extra  dimension of flavor but they are just as good without it.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c ripe strawberries sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 tbsp honey 
• 1/16 tsp salt
• Pinch pepper, or to taste  
• Optional:  1/2 tsp dried tarragon

Directions:

Combine the strawberries, honey, salt, pepper and optional dried tarragon in a small bowl.  Allow the strawberries to macerate for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  

Place the strawberries on a nonstick baking sheet.  

Bake for 1 1/2 hours.  Carefully peel each strawberry from the baking sheet and turn them over.  

Cook for another 30 minutes.  Remove the strawberries from the baking sheet and allow them to cool.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  

Enjoy!