Apple Chips

When your parents go to a farming community known for its apple orchards, and they get awed and excited by wall-to-wall apples, the results might sometimes be overwhelming. In my case, the situation is alarming.

My parents returned from Apple Hill in Northern California with two cases (approximately 18 lbs) of apples mixed between Fuji and Granny Smith varieties. I've had two apples every day for the last 2 weeks, and I'm really getting sick of them. Meanwhile, I am bringing home persimmons from friends that want me to make them into persimmon chips for a healthy snack, so I decided last night to try making chips from a few of the apples I've got.
I use usually the mandoline attachment for my food processor to slice the apples horizontally. But you can also purchase a small mandoline slicer for cheap.

Here's my Cuisinart food processor, with the regular blade removed and the mandoline slicer blade attached.

The horizontal cross section of the apple makes a cute little star shape where the seeds would be, and the slicer can slice directly through the seeds, so you only need to shake off any seeds and bake the slices for a couple hours. These apple chips are a great treat for little kids because of the rewarding little star in the center. :-) One small apple makes approximately 15 chips.

Soon I'll post another nice snack with baked apples (and an elegant appetizer with white wine or sparkling cider) involves roasting them with honey, cheese and fresh sprig of spice.

So here's the recipe for apple chips

Ingredients:

• 4 small granny smith or fuji apples

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees, or 200 degrees on convection if your oven is capable.
2. Thinly slice off the top and bottom of the apple, and peel the skin off with a potato peeler.
3. Using a mandolin or food processor attachment, slice the apples into thin 1/16 inch thickness (you can use a knife for this process, but for me it takes some time, and I have trouble getting my slices a uniform thickness, so I prefer to use the machine)
4. Place them on trays with holes for adequate ventilation, my version looks like flimsy aluminum chicken wire, but it works. Dry them in the oven for around 1 hour and 45 minutes, rotating the trays after the first 45-60 minutes of drying so they all cook evenly(if you use a convection setting on the oven, rotating is unnecessary).

You can buy grilling trays/pans for drying food or making chips in the oven here (I waited until spring for grillling season and found some at the dollar store).

Nutrition facts for a serving size of around 12 chips:
60 calories, 15gm net carbs, 4gm fiber, 0g fat, 0g protein (1 diabetic carbohydrate exchange, 0 fat and 0 protein exchanges)