If necessity is the mother of invention, as Plato is claimed to have once said, I’m going to go ahead and say that failure must also be closely related to it. While coming up with new recipes is great fun to me, there are times when I’m met with epic failures. While I prefer not to talk about how I used to react to these failures when I was younger (I kindly request my family to not comment here if they are reading this!), I can safely say that I handle these situations a lot better now. A few weeks ago I turned a less than perfect Chocolate Babka into a Chocolate Raspberry Bread Pudding which I loved, and this time I turned these multicoloured fruit roll-up failures into fruit and chocolate bars. Not just any fruit and chocolate bar – but a Doctor Who scarf inspired, Chocolate Rainbow Fruit Bars!
I made these for my entry in the Time Lord Chefs “Old School” Doctor Who Food event hosted by Katie from Recipe for Perfection (formerly called “The Perfect Brownie” – be sure to check out her re-vamped blog!). To me the most iconic Doctor from the classic series is the fourth one played by Tom Baker. My mum (who wasn’t a DW fan until I made her watch the episode “Blink”) refers to him as the “the doctor with an Afro” (not quite, but you get the picture – see below). He even made a guest appearance in the 50th anniversary episode (The Day of the Doctor) which was pretty awesome! Plus did you know Tom Baker’s Birthday is on the 20th January? That’s tomorrow!

Every Doctor in the series so far has had something unique about him. From Jelly babies, Celery Stalks, Bananas, Fish Fingers and Custard (here’s my take on that), Converse shoes, Fezzes (Here are my edible fezzes) to Jammie Dodgers and so many other things! Tom Baker (the fourth doctor) had his scarf which was colourful and quirky in the way he wore it and I was inspired by it to make a fun dessert. I would LOVE to actually own a scarf like this. I currently own this “Doctor Hoo” t-shirt (among other Doctor Who things in my wardrobe and kitchen) but this scarf would certainly be a fantastic addition.
So back to the failed fruit roll-ups. To create the colours on the scarf I used blackberry (purple-ish), strawberry (red), pineapple and peach (yellow), pineapple, peach, banana and spinach (green). I took two good shots at it. The first time I left them in the oven for seemingly too long so they promptly became fruit crisps instead. I didn’t try to replicate all the colours in the original doctor’s scarf, only chose the more striking colours.
The second time around I laid out thicker fruit layers and spread them out a bit more along the long edge. It still got quite crispy although the blackberry layer came out perfectly.
So what was the problem? As I later realized (which I honestly should have expected) each fruit layer or fruit component dehydrates in the oven at different rates. So while the purple blackberry layer came out well at the temperature and time I selected, this was too much for the other layers which came out crispy (and that obviously doesn’t work for a fruit leather) even though I spread those layers a little thicker than the blackberry layer. I will still keep working on this to find out how I can get multiple fruit layers to dry up in the oven at the same rate. When I do, you guys will be the first to know!
So how did I salvage it? With chocolate of course. After all, chocolate fixes everything right? 🙂 I added a thin layer of chocolate to the sheet of dehydrated fruits. I made the chocolate layer thin enough so that the chocolate flavour wasn’t overwhelming and shield all the delicious fruity flavours.
By the way, did you know that chocolate saved the 6th doctor’s life when he was poisoned one time by an alien who added soluble aspirin (which is poisonous to the Time Lords) to his tea? The chocolate nullified the effects of aspirin and saved his life! So there you have it. There are so many questions in life for which the sole answer is chocolate!
You can make these with any of your favourite fruits or use store-bought fruit roll-ups to make it easier. Even if your fruit roll-ups dry up a bit too much like mine did, you need not worry because that works just as well for this recipe.
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Chocolate Rainbow Fruit Bars
Ingredients:
Fruit Layer
- 1/2 cup hulled sliced strawberries (about 150g)
- 1/2 cup blackberries about 150 g
- 1 cup pineapples about 250g
- 1/2 cup peaches about 150g
- 1 small banana
- about 6-7 baby spinach leaves
- Sugar and lime juice to taste optional - not really needed because you will be spreading chocolate as well
Chocolate Layer
- 1 lb/500g chocolate dark, milk or white
- 8 oz/250g cream
- 1 tsp Instant coffee granules optional
Instructions:
Fruit Layer
- Using a blender puree the blackberries and strawberries separately until you have a puree. Add sugar and lime juice if needed and process for a few minutes to mix the sugar in properly. Set this aside.
- Blend the pineapple, peaches and banana together. Add sugar if needed and process further.
- Separate 3/4 of this mix and set aside. This will be the "yellow".
- To the remaining quarter, add the spinach leaves and blend it until well incorporated.
- Prepare a baking tray with a Silpat on top (you could use parchment paper - but personally I prefer Silpat) and pour layers of the fruit along the long edge. You can use any combination/pattern/sequence you like, but I preferred to keep the green to a minimum (just my personal preference)
- Spread each fruit layer (quite thick) on the silpat making sure the fruit layers overlap with each other a bit as these shrink a little as the dehydrate.
- With the oven at the lowest temperature setting (which is "warm" on my oven), place the baking tray in the middle of the oven and with the door ajar, leave it in there for a few hours (took about four hours in my oven, but this could vary) until the layers are no longer tacky (some layers might be a bit too dry- but that's okay)
Chocolate layer
- In the meantime, place the cream, chocolate and coffee (if using) in a heat proof bowl and melt it over a double boiler or in short bursts in the microwave until you get a smooth chocolate mix. Leave it to cool slightly.
- Spread the cooled chocolate layer on top of the fruit layer, covering the whole area. You may miss the edges, but you can trim these off.
- Place this in the refrigerator until the chocolate firms up and then peel off the entire chocolate and fruit layer from the Silpat and place it on a surface (coloured side up).
- With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into strips (or any shape you prefer). Store in the refrigerator.
Please see Notes below for information on yield.
Tips & Tricks
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
What was even better than the dainty look of these things was the taste. With every bite you get a hint of the fruit flavour which then gives way to the chocolate flavour. And as you move along the chocolate fruit bar you will taste the different fruity flavours. The blackberry flavour was the strongest with strawberry coming in second. The yellow and green flavours weren’t as strong although there is still a subtle hint of it.
The next best thing was the colours! I had some fun making different patterns with the colours while taking photographs as you can see below. I can only imagine how little ones will have heaps of fun with it too. And there’s so much room for you to play around with the colours and the amounts of it and the thickness of those bands, this is a truly fun dessert to make as well eat.
I think I’m going to go ahead and call these imperfectly perfect. They came to be because a recipe turned out to be less than perfect, but made their second coming as little treats that tasted perfect. And while they may not look like perfect artisan chocolates, they are perfectly fun to eat!
So do you see how I got my inspiration to make these from the fourth doctor’s scarf?
There will be more Doctor Who themed awesomeness to come and I will post the link to Katie’s round up next week here are some of the other bloggers creations for this round of #TimeLordChefs. If you are a whovian like me, you can check out some of my previous Doctor Who themed deliciousness below too. And maybe you can have a “Jelly baby” while you are at it too! 🙂
Fish Fingers & Custard (Vanila Basil Cake Fingers with Lime and Graham Cracker Crust)
Mini Fezzes (Mini Raspberry covered Chocolate Swirl Cheesecakes)
3D Sculpted Cake of Half face man and Clockwork Droid
“Tangerine” Santa Claus Cupcakes and Evil Snowman Cupcakes
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Vohn's Vittles says
Love love LOVE these Dini! Such a genius idea. I’ve often thought of making fruit leathers but never got around to it and had certainly never made the colour leap to the Doctor’s scarf! Brilliant. I am so impressed that there is no food colouring in there too! Love love LOVE them.
xx
P.S. Did I mention? I LOVE these!
Dini says
hahaha!! Thank you Vohn! Making Fruit leather is pretty easy, but it was tricky to combine them (hence the addition of the chocolate layer!). I loved the colour of them too! It’s amazing how vibrant they become once they dry out… 🙂
Miranda @ Cookie Dough & Oven Mitt says
Wow! These are absolutely amazing and so creative. I always have a melt down if my recipes become a fail. lol I hope that you when for this awesome entry. It’s definitely the bees knees and I don’t even know about this Doctor Who business. lol Thank you for linking it up at the Sunday’s Recipe Wrap-up!
Michelle says
These look awesome Dini and make for another great save! Four is my favourite doctor from Classic Who (closely followed by One) and I’ve always wanted his scarf, with all that wool though they’re expensive to make or buy! One day though
Dini says
Thank you Michelle! The fourth is my favourite too… and I would LOVE it if I had his scarf but you’re right it’s so expensive! But I’m not giving up hope just yet! 🙂
Simone says
My kids would love these! And I might even indulge in some myself. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Coming over from Foodie Friday xx
Dini says
Thank you Simone! I think kids would love it and they can even help too. Happy FF! 🙂
Kyra @ Vie De La Vegan says
These are awesome! That was clever to use chocolate to save the fruit leathers. Definitely going to try this (subbing coconut cream and Whittaker’s Dark Chocolate) 🙂 Looking forward to seeing your next Dr Who inspired recipe!
Dini says
Thank you Kyra! Yes, you can definitely use Whittakers Dark Block and Coconut cream – it’s what I’ve used in the past to make any of my chocolate recipes dairy free! (there is no chocolate like Whittaker’s ultimately!) 🙂
cathy says
This looks soo good! How creative and yummy! 🙂
Cathy
Joy @ Joy Love Food says
I’ve never made fruit leather before, these are beautiful and sound delicious! Pinning and stumbling 🙂
Dini says
Thank you Joy! Making fruit roll ups in one flavour is fairly easy – it’s mixing up the flavours that make them tricky! It is definitely delicious to eat 🙂
Jenny @ Honey and Birch says
I can’t wait to share this recipe with my Dr. Who fan friends. 🙂 What a great idea!
Dini says
Thank you so much Jenny! 🙂 My Doctor Who crazed side was definitely excited to make this…
Sarah @ Sarah's Kitchen says
This is so cool! Wow, really amazing!
Dini says
Thank you Sarah 🙂
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
Oh I am going to have to try these for my son! Or give him the recipe and let him go to town. He’s been making his own gummy bears (although they are really gummy rectangles), and this is right up his alley! Love it!
Dini says
Thank you Michelle! I hope he does make it. I love that you can mix and match flavours in this, because it doesn’t matter if it goes wrong 🙂
I would love to know how he makes his gummy triangles! A huge fan of them 🙂
CakeSpy says
IMPOSSIBLY clever and fashionable! I am not super familiar with Dr. Who but I am very well versed in rainbows…and I approve.
Dini says
I am absolutely honoured Jessie 😀 Thank you!!
Ganu says
You reacting bad to failures? What? 😛 I’ve never heard of such a thing!!!
These are so great!!! You are so creative! and I am pretty sure chocolate is the best medicine out there 😛
Dini says
I told you not to talk about it! 😛 I think you would’ve liked this one! You can trick yourself into thinking it’s healthy because it’s fruits… & you can sub in the cream for coconut and use the Whittakers Dark Chocolate – Dairy Free!
mila furman says
Hahah love this!!! It looks so cool! May be a good weekend activity with the munchkin!
Dini says
Thank you Mila! It definitely would be fun to try with kids 🙂 Even more fun to eat!!
Katie @ Recipe for Perfection says
You’ll never believe this- but when I first saw this, I shouted “Oh no, she didn’t!” because I had been planning to do pull-apart brownies decorated as Tom Baker’s scarf!
Your fruit strips look so lovely, though, and how can I hold a grudge against anyone who honors the great Tom Baker? 🙂
I am so glad you are a part of the #TimeLordChefs Doctor Who Baking Challenge! I’m always in suspense to see what you’ll come up with next.
Dini says
hahaha!!! Im so sorry Katie! I would still LOVE to see the pull apart brownies though! There can never be too many Tom Baker Scarves… right?
So glad to be part of #TimeLordChefs too 🙂 Can’t wait to see what everyone else has made! Thank you Katie 🙂
Petra says
I love to make fruit leathers but have to admit it has never occurred to me that I could make stripy ones! These are so pretty and chocolate always works a treat! They look lovely to tuck in to! 🙂
Dini says
Thank you! 🙂 I love making and eating fruit leather too Petra! but having a stripy look was more complicated than I thought! I will keep trying though 🙂