Homemade Apple Chips

Can I just say, super quick, that I don’t really care for apples. Gosh it feels good to get that off my chest. I eat them because I want Vivi to have a good food role model – but really. Not my fav.

But THESE. These glorious rounds of just a little crispy, cinnamon sugar kissed, apple chips? I can’t stop eating them.

Our friend and local blogger, Jennifer Hatton is sharing her famous apple chips recipe with us today because they would make a fantastic affordable and unexpected neighbor (friend/teacher/babysitter/etc) gift.

As The Bear (my 2 year old son) got older I needed more gluten free snacks for home and on the go. He’s been crazy about freeze dried veggies since he was old enough to eat them and I wanted to start making them at home. Rob, my husband, would not let me buy a commercial freeze drying machine (I know right?) so I started looking for snacks I could dehydrate. One of the recipes I found on Pinterest was for cinnamon apple chips and with my inexpensive first dehydrator I made a batch. They were a huge hit with my husband, teenager and toddler – a total trifecta. I actually made so many apple chip batches early last year that the dehydrator broke. I saved up and used my Christmas money to buy a bigger, better dehydrator and started making them for family and friends.

I have a few friends who have been encouraging me to sell them for a while so when we decided to keep/adopt Viv, the Great Dane we were fostering, I thought it might be a good way to help come up with the fees and extra expenses we had not been planning on. I threw out the idea to my husband and sister and off we went. A friend made a cute “ad” for us to use and tons of family and friends have been supporting us in our apple chip making adventure since.

I enjoy making the apple chips with my boys and feel it works well to help them learn to work hard for the things they want. It also makes my house smell amazing everyday which is a nice bonus.

All you need to make these yummy treats are organic apples, 1/4 cup organic light or dark brown sugar, 1/4 cup organic turbinado sugar and 1/4 Siagon cinnamon. My favorite apples to use are in the middle of sweet and tart. My thought is with the sweetness of the sugar an apple that is a little more tart helps to balance it out. Any type will work and I usually go with whatever is in season and the variety is fun. I have used both Gala and Pink Lady apples lately.

Depending on the amount you are going to make you can do a larger or smaller batch of sugar/cinnamon mix. The most important thing is keeping a 2 to 1 ratio of sugar to cinnamon. The mixture of sugar types has worked the best and the Siagon cinnamon is my favorite type in this recipe although any cinnamon will work. The recipe is pretty forgiving, unless you overdo the cinnamon, which shockingly you can do.

Instructions:

Wash apples and set aside.

Mix brown sugar, tubinado sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Use a fork to mix and break apart any chunks.

Begin slicing your apple using a Mandoline slicer

– Note: I highly recommend a Mandoline slicer, I have done it by hand but it is very hard to keep the slices the same thickness and you will have some crispy and some chewy. If you package them together the ones that are not fully dehydrated will rehydrate the others and you will have a sticky mess.

Dip each slice into the sugar/cinnamon mixture. I cover 1/4-1/3 of each apple. The slices will shrink, if you do too much cinnamon and sugar it will overwhelm the apple flavor.

Lay the apples on the tray close together but not overlapping.

Run the dehydrator on 135º F for 6-8 hours. The longer you dry it the crispier they will be. You can leave them a little chewy or crispy depending on your preference.

Allow them to cool for 5 minutes to give you the best idea of what the texture is going to be. Package them in glass containers for longest shelf life, but ziploc bags work too.