RECIPE: Berry-licious fruit roll-ups are kid-friendly cooking project

Nearly a year into the pandemic and you’re still working remotely. Your children are still learning virtually. You want snacks and meals to be healthy, but sometimes you don’t have the time — or you’re simply too tired to cook. If this story sounds familiar to you, is it time to enlist the kiddos lest you lose your mind?

The folks at America’s Test Kitchen have published a handful of cookbooks — and devoted a section of their website — to teaching the next generation how to cook. The latest kid-tested, kid-approved book, “The Complete DIY Cookbook for Young Chefs,” features recipes for re-creating favorite store-bought foods at home.

The recipe for Triple-Berry Fruit Leather stands out not just as a healthy homemade version of a Fruit Roll-Up, but as an entertaining Saturday project to occupy fidgety homebound kids. Between blitzing the fruit in a blender, reducing the mixture on the stovetop and baking it until it sets, the project will take roughly 5 hours before Junior gets to tear his teeth into fruit jerky while Mom stashes away the rest as next week’s after-school snack.