I know it’s only Wednesday and the weekend still seems so far away, but as it gets closer and closer to Friday night, I start planning our weekend menu. This usually includes something homemade and yummy for dinners, some sort of a dessert (if I have the time to bake something delicious), and occasionally something healthy to munch on as well.
Just to be clear, I’m not always this ambitious… but every once in a while when I don’t have a whole lot to do for school, I like to go all out and spend the weekend cooking and baking.
Going along with the healthy diet we’ve been on the past month, I’ve decided to make some homemade apple chips, sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar. Turns out, these are super easy (and tasty) and they don’t take a whole lot of prepping time. Not only that, they’re a lot healthier than the store-bought version, and probably a whole lot cheaper too.
Healthy, tasty, simple, and cheap? Sounds like a winner to me!
And just an FYI, these take about two hours to bake in the oven. During these two hours, your house will smell amazing. Think about those apple cinnamon and brown sugar candles you see stores selling during the holidays – these smell exactly like that, but better (because frankly, real ‘apples & cinnamon’ smells better than burning scented wax).
To make the apple slices, I highly recommend using a mandolin. I guess a steady hand and a sharp knife would work too, but using a mandolin is much safer and quicker.
Ingredients:
- 2 Granny Smith apples
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- I’m not a fan of eating apple cores, so I halved my apples and removed the cores before placing them onto the mandolin.
- In a shallow dish, combine the cinnamon and brown sugar. Mix well.
- Using the mandolin, slice the apples as thin as possible. Toss them in the cinnamon mixture and make sure they’re all coated with cinnamon and sugar – no one wants that piece with no seasoning on it!
- Place apple slices on baking sheets and bake for 1 hour.
I realized I only had about 6″ worth of parchment paper left, so I simply put my apple slices on the baking sheets. The parchment paper will prevent your apples from sticking to your sheet, making your next step easier.
- After the first hour, remove sheets from oven and flip the slices over with tongs. Put the sheet that was on the top rack to the bottom rack, and the sheet that was on the bottom rack to the top (for even baking). Bake for another hour.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from The Italian Dish
