Baked Apple Chips!

Intro: Baked Apple Chips!

Make your own apple chips at home in the oven! My grandmother always made apple and banana chips with a dehydrator, and they were amazing... so I had to figure out how to do it my own way! Perfect for after school snacks or on road trips.

These chips are thin sliced, soaked in a simple syrup and baked low and slow.

The prep time is around 15 minutes, and cook time is 1 to 1 1/2 hours. This recipe makes about 50 chips.

STEP 1: Three Simple Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large apples or 3 small ones (I recommend gala, braeburn, or fugi)

That's it! You can spice your apples with cinnamon or cloves if you like, but I like them just as they are.

As far as hardware, you'll need:

• baking sheets
• parchment paper
• a small pan to make the simple syrup in
• a mandoline or a sharp knife and a cutting board
• tongs (though chopsticks would work too)
• an oven set to 250 F

STEP 2: Make the Simple Syrup.

Pour the two cups of water and sugar into your pan, and bring it to a boil. Stir it once it comes to a boil to make sure there's no sugar stuck to the bottom of the pan and it's all dissolving.

Once it's clear, turn off the heat and let it hang out while you prep the apples.

STEP 3: Slice Your Apples and Preheat the Oven!

Set your oven to 250 F.

I'm using a mandoline because that's the easiest and quickest way to go about it - and they can be very cheap - I found this one for $10 years ago. I only use it every now and then, but it's so much better than fighting with knife. :P

You want your slices to be 1/16 of an inch.

You can cut them wider, but they will take much longer to cook, and will not be as crisp. (Though I suppose you could turn the oven up to 300 or so to help out)

Slice off the rounded side of the apple until you get a nice wide piece of flesh (as shown in the second picture.) Then start making your slices for the chips. Discard or eat the other rounded side as well. :)

Keep going right through the center of the apple - don't worry about coring them or the seeds, stem, or woody insides... we'll take care of any problems in a second.

STEP 4: Clean Up Your Slices!

Use a paring knife or your fingernails to remove any seed fragments, stems, or fuzzy bits from the bottom of the apple.

Don't worry about the core - since we'll be soaking them in the warm syrup, it'll soften. :)

STEP 5: Soaking!

Place the apples in the simple syrup and soak for 10 minutes. I stirred mine a couple times just to make sure everyone was happy.

STEP 6: Onto the Baking Sheets!

Using tongs or chopsticks, lift the apples one by one from the syrup, shake off the excess and place them on the parchment paper.

Don't overlap them, but try to get as many on the baking sheets as you can. Flatten them as you go - it might be tricky for some and that's okay. :)

If you would like to add spices, now is the time to do so. Just sprinkle it over the top.

STEP 7: Save the Simple Syrup!

You now have awesome apple flavored simple syrup to use in teas, lemonade... or to make another batch of apple chips. You can store it in the fridge.

And the slices that wouldn't fit on the sheet? You should probably just eat those. NOM.

STEP 8: Baking.

One baking sheet will go in the middle of the oven, and the other right below that. :)

Cook them for a half hour, and then rotate the trays so the top one is on bottom.

Cook for another half hour and check. Depending on your oven, both sheets might be done - in my case - only the one on the bottom rack was. I have a slow gas oven. :P

If they're done, they should be golden brown and crisp. If they're not, give them 15 more minutes and check again, continuing to do so until they're done. My second tray took an additional 30 minutes or so. Keep in mind that they will harden up a bit once you take them out of the oven.

Or cook them to the level you like - I know some people like them more gummy. It's all up to you!

Hope you enjoy them! :D

Comments

[psycophonic]

Instead of saving or throwing the water/sugar/apple mix, I would be tempted to add a little yeast and let that do its magic.

[lionmk]

Could I use local honey instead of the sugar syrup?

[lionmk]

Would I do half honey half water?

[farmerboyk]

hmmm....What about instead of an oven using a dehydrator? Im making some with a dehydrator and I want to know can I do what you did in here but without the oven?

[jessyratfink]

With the dehydrator I'd leave the sugar out of the equation. :)

Also, totally wish I had a dehydrator.

[farmerboyk]

Best thing ever :P

[banane]

Ever since I looked at this instructable at my gfs house, I couldn't wait to get home and make some!
Bad news!... After 30mins, I opened the oven to turn them over but all the slices were stuck on the parchment paper and the parchment paper also stuck on the baking sheet! What happened? I thought the purpose of parchment paper was for it to not be sticky!

It's my first time doing something like this so pardon my ignorance!

[jessyratfink]

Oh no! Are you sure it was parchment paper and not wax paper? It's easy to mix them up, I've done it before with terrible results. :P

Otherwise, I'd say the slices could have had too much of the syrup on them - that could explain it - parchment paper can only deal with so much liquid.

[CJSudduth]

can you do this with all kinds of fruit?? I like catching strawberries & bananas on sale... I am sure this is much cheaper than buring the mixes at the grocery store..

[jessyratfink]

You definitely can! With both bananas and strawberries, you need to set the oven as low as it will go. Bananas need to cook for an hour or two, but strawberries need much longer.

I'd leave out the simple syrup for these and toss them in a little lemon juice instead.

[AussieAnglerGal]

these look so great!

[bigbearswife]

I can't wait to try these! I bet they are the perfect snack!

[bdatkins]

My wife has gestational diabetes and I am worried about the added sugar. Do you suppose that it would be possible to make the syrup with Splenda?

[laguilar2]

Check out a natural sweetner called "xylitol". you can get it at most grocery stores in their healthy/natural living section. It's made from a plant and has a low glycemic index. you can use it alot lot sugar but may need to "bump it" about 25%. the internet also has lots of information you can read about it first.

[jessyratfink]

Making the syrup with Splenda would be very tricky - I'm afraid the taste would be off because it is so much sweeter than normal sugar. Getting the ratio of water and Splenda right could be tricky, I think.

You can definitely make them without the syrup, though. Just slice them and bake as normal without the syrup. You might need to bake them a little longer without the extra sugar to help crisp them up though - just keep an eye on them and you'll be fine! :)

[Anianna]

I second making dried apples without syrup. We have a couple of apple trees and we use one of those apple/corer/slicers for easy, even, core-free slices. We just pop them in a dehydrator or in the oven without adding a thing and we love them (we being me, my hubby, and my four kiddos). If you make a lot, you can freeze them for long-term storage, too. We do that so we have apple chips in the off season without having to buy apples.

Honey and sugar are both antimicrobial, so you could even dehydrate fruit in the sunshine safely using a syrup. Heck, there may be enough natural sugar content in the apples to dehydrate safely in the sun without anything extra, but adding some honey or a sugar syrup would give me a little more peace of mind.

Also, the slices don't brown as much if you dip them in lemon before dehydrating. :)

[cheshiresgrin]

Can I just use maple syrup instead of simple syrup? Or should I make a simple syrup out of maple syrup and water and go that route?

[jessyratfink]

I'd definitely go half maple syrup and half water - I'm afraid straight maple syrup would be awful to work with and probably burn. :)

[Agrezort]

what if you use honey instead of sugar?

[jessyratfink]

Honey will definitely work here - making a simple syrup out of honey works just the same, and I bet clover or orange blossom honey would taste amazing!