These fun Fruit Leather Books are a simple and tasty treat to make for back-to-school, a teacher's gift, a book club meeting, or a graduation party. Each chewy little book-shaped treat is easy to make and tastes great.
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+.
Let's make some Fruit Leather Books.
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.
Variation
You can use Fruit Rolls instead of the fruit leather. These books are smaller and thinner but are super cute too.
Assemble the books.
- cut your white modeling chocolate into rectangles that are the same width as the Fruit Rolls
- cut the Fruit Rolls so that they are a tiny bit longer than the white chocolate fudge rectangles
- set one Fruit Roll piece down
- set one white chocolate fudge rectangle on top
- set another Fruit Roll piece on top of the fudge
- press down to make it all stick together
- repeat
- use a black food coloring marker to draw 5-7 dots along one long edge of the top piece of Fruit Roll
- draw short straight lines from the dots to the closest edge of the Fruit Roll
- if desired, add the names of class subjects, doodles, or your child's name to each notebook
NOTE:
If your books won't stick together, dab some sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup, or honey on the white chocolate fudge pieces before attaching the Fruit Roll pieces.
Depending on how thick you roll out the wh
Related Recipes
If you are looking for more fun Back to School or Teacher Appreciation Gift ideas be sure to check out all these other amazing food craft and recipe ideas on my School & Teacher Treats Page. You might also enjoy making School Book Sandwiches or Rice Krispie Treat Books.
Recipe
Make cute little edible books using assorted fruit leather and white modeling chocolate. These bite-sized treats are perfect for teacher's gifts, book club meetings, graduation parties, and more.
- 8 ounces white chocolate or white candy melts
- ¼ cup honey
- 12 assorted fruit leather bars (cherry, strawberry, and raspberry)
- powdered sugar to dust work surface
-
Melt the white chocolate in the microwave on high heat for 15-30 second bursts of high power stirring after each until melted.
-
Allow the chocolate to cool to about 91 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring often.
-
Pour in the honey and 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 white modeling chocolate out onto a counter top, preferably marble or granite.
-
Knead until glossy and smooth using a plastic bench scraper or spatula.
-
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 out twelve 1 ⅞" x 1 ½" rectangles.
-
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.
-
Set 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.
-
To ensure the books stick together, cover them with a piece of plastic wrap. Set a baking tray on top of the books and then set a heavy can or book on top.
-
Let the weight sit on the books for at least an hour. This will ensure the fruit leather covers stay stuck to the white modeling chocolate pages.
Tips for making modeling chocolate.
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 white chocolate is too hot, the cocoa butter or oil will rise to the surface and you will have a greasy mess. If it becomes greasy, set it aside and let it cool for 20-40 minutes. Then, knead it on a cool surface (granite, marble, or a metal baking tray) until the grease is soaked up into the modeling chocolate.
Storage
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week.
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Eve says
These look great! But living in Ireland, we don't seem to have "fruit leather" over here. Does anyone have any suggestions as to an alternative?
Or is fruit leather just a name for something like Fruit Winders, or Fruit by the Foot?
Chinnu says
Am not very much into cooking baking kind of stuff. But this one just caught my eye...i had to compliment....it looks super adorable and i bet its yummy too!!
Cheers!
Nedra says
I was thinking the same as Nadia, cheese would be a healthy, not to mention easier alternative to white chocolate. Just cut it up! lol Love the idea, they're so cute looking!
Janet Rudolph says
So fabulous.. I'll link this to both Mystery Fanfare (because we're all about books) and dyingforchocolate.com You really hit it out of the park with the!
Nikolette says
Found this through Must Have Cute. Love it!
Nadia says
Those are adorable, I think I will make some with cheese instead of chocolate though for a back to school snack!
Sallyy says
I thought about fresh mozzarella instead of white chocolate.
Beth says
That would be an interesting twist to this recipe. Let me know how it turns out.
Danee says
I just found your blog - via the Craft newsletter- and wanted to let you know I think it is so clever. Love the books and love the flavor profiles. I enjoyed reading about your thought process as you worked through your idea. I share those types of ideas on my blog but find most people don't. I can't wait to have more time to read your other posts and see all your clever food ideas.
Beth Jackson Klosterboer says
Thanks everyone. It's so nice to see so many people like this idea. I've never made homemade fruit leather, but think it would make these taste even better. I'll have to try that someday.
Beth @ Hungry Happenings
Kids Art Club - North London says
FABULOUS!
Anonymous says
These are adorable! I think I'll size them down a little bit more and put them on cupcakes. Thanks for the great idea.
The Princess and the Tot says
LOVE, love, LOVE!!!
adashofdomestic says
How cute! Very creative!
The Craft-Arty Kid says
I've made miniature books before, but ones you can eat? My mind is blown. Haha. This is awesome!
Anonymous says
great i love it,but more than a book seems a wallet,
i shall imagine when it already will serve this:'anyone here has lost his wallet?' 🙂
diane says
Great Idea, Have you tried using the honey with White chocolate in your candy decorating or for cake fondant?
Beth @ Hungry Happenings says
Thanks everyone. I'd love to hear what other things you create using this version of modeling chocolate.
Diane, this modeling chocolate works exactly the same as modeling chocolate that uses corn syrup. You can sculpt with it and decorate cookies or cakes. I don't have any experience working with fondant. I haven't ever decorated a cake using it, but hope to soon.
birdsandbaking says
This is such a neat idea! I love books! 🙂 Hopefully someday I'll have an occasion to make them for.
Jillian
Indigo says
Oh my goodness, I'm in LOVE with this idea! So freakin' charming. Definitely going to hold onto this.
Girlfrog says
Oh dear, this is fabulous!
Chic Cookies says
So super brilliant! Love these. I posted a link on EdibleCrafts.CraftGossip 🙂