Fruit Leather Books

How cute are these edible books? Each little book is made with 2-ingredient modeling chocolate made with white chocolate and honey and store-bought fruit leather.

I used cherry, raspberry, strawberry, and apricot fruit leather. The fresh fruit flavor blended harmoniously with the honey-scented, creamy vanilla, flavor of the modeling chocolate. Plus the fruit leather made the books like real leather-bound books.

Whether you are looking for a unique teacher's gift, a fun back-to-school snack, a book club meeting treat, or a graduation party dessert, these books will get an A+.

Ingredients

white candy melts or white chocolate - You can use wafers, bars, or chips.
honey or corn syrup - Either works well to make the white modeling chocolate pages for inside the books.
assorted fruit leather bars - I used Stretch Island Cherry, strawberry, apricot, and raspberry fruit leather. Try to find fruit leather that is very fresh for the best results. The leather needs to be pliable enough to fold in half without breaking. When you open the package, they will be sticky on one side which works great for this project.
powdered sugar - Used to dust your work surface so the molding chocolate won't stick.

Supplies

rolling pin
ruler
pizza wheel or knife

Instructions

Before you begin: If you haven't made modeling chocolate before or haven't melted chocolate, you should read my chocolate-making tutorial. All brands of white chocolate or white candy melts have varying amounts of cocoa butter or oil, so this recipe is just a guide. You may need to add more honey or corn syrup if the modeling chocolate feels too dry.

Melt the white candy melts.

Melt the white candy melts or white chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler.

If using the microwave, heat on high for 30 seconds, then stir. Heat for 20 seconds, then stir vigorously. If needed, heat for 10-second increments, stirring after each until melted.

To use a double boiler, fill a saucepan with 1 inch of water and set a snug-fitting bowl over top so the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Pour the white chocolate into the bowl. Heat over low heat, stirring often until about 75% of the chocolate has melted. Remove it from the heat and stir until melted.

Allow the chocolate to cool to about 91 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring often.  

If you don't have a thermometer, test the temperature of the melted chocolate by putting a drop on your lip. It should feel cool. If it's hot, let it cool longer, stirring often to make sure the chocolate at the edges of the bowl does not harden.

If you add the honey when the chocolate is too hot, the cocoa butter or oil will rise to the surface and you will have a greasy mess. If this happens, read my How To Fix Greasy Modeling Chocolate troubleshooting post.

Blend the honey and white chocolate together.

Pour in the honey. Stir until well incorporated.

The mixture will become thick very quickly, so scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate all of the melted chocolate. 

Pour the modeling chocolate out onto a countertop, preferably marble or granite. Knead until glossy and smooth.

My hands tend to be rather warm, so I use a plastic bench scraper to help me knead the modeling chocolate so that I don't overheat it as this can bring out the oils in the chocolate.

Cut the modeling chocolate into rectangles.

Lightly dust your work surface and a rolling pin with powdered sugar. 

Roll out the modeling chocolate to about ⅜" thickness.

Use a ruler and pizza wheel or knife to cut 1 ⅞" x 1 ½" rectangles.  Re-roll the modeling chocolate as needed to create 12 rectangles.

Make the books.

Unwrap your fruit leather bars and set them, sticky side up, on a cutting board. Use a pizza wheel or knife to cut off the thicker rounded edges.  S

et one rectangle of white modeling chocolate on the right side of each fruit leather strip.  Fold the left side of the fruit leather strip over and press down firmly. 

The apricot fruit leather was not sticky enough to hold the books together, so I added a bit of honey. These books held together for a while but did eventually open.  The cherry, raspberry, and strawberry fruit leathers were more pliable and sticky and they held the white chocolate pages without needing any honey.

To ensure the books would stick together, I covered them with some plastic wrap and set a baking sheet on top then added a heavy can to weigh it down.  I left the books under this weight for over an hour.

None of the books made with the cherry, raspberry, or strawberry leathers came apart even after a few days.

Storage

Store in an airtight container for up to a week. Do not refrigerate or the fruit leather will harden and dry out.