by Texas Homesteader
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Today I’m continuing on with my series on Preserving Fresh Apples.  My aunt shared many bushels of apples from her tree this year and I’m making sure to get them all preserved. I certainly don’t want that apple deliciousness to go to waste!

I’ve been busy making and canning apple pie filling, apple butter, applesauce, etc.

But one of RancherMan’s favorite ways to enjoy these apples is for me to sprinkle apple slices with with cinnamon & sugar and dehydrate them into sweet apple chips.  Check it out!

(Note: Some links in this post are for further information from earlier posts I’ve written. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click them and buy something (almost anything, not just the item noted) I could receive a small purchase. But the price you pay will NOT change. It’s an easy way to support this blog without anything coming out of your pocket. So click often! Thank you!)

My aunt told me she simply used this handy *apple corer/slicer/peeler, sprinkled the apple slices with cinnamon and sugar and put them on a tray in her oven set to 200 degrees for about 9 hours to dry and crisp them. It seems she told me she cracked the oven door open during their drying.

Deciding To Use Dehydrator Instead

But I just couldn’t stand the thought of having my oven turned on for that length of time pumping heat into the house during the hot & humid dog days of our NE Texas summer.

So I thought I’d try to dehydrate them in my *Excalibur dehydrator instead. I can set that bad boy outside and have the drying heat stay outside where it belongs!

So RancherMan & I hit the kitchen slicing/peeling and coring apples using this amazing peeler that has a suction cup to secure it to our counter.

I’m not gonna lie – I’m in love with this thing! We can peel/slice and core an apple in seconds!

When my aunt made hers she left the apple rings whole. But I liked the thought of half rings better so I cut all my slices in half.

Cinnamon/Sugar Technique

I placed my dehydrator trays on a metal rack with newspaper beneath it. That way when I sprinkled the slices with cinnamon and sugar I could capture and reuse all the mixture that would have otherwise fallen from the trays and been wasted. 

I just brought up the edges of the newspaper so the cinnamon and sugar would slide to the middle of the paper. Then I poured it all back into my shaker bottle. EASY!

Drying The Sweetened Apple Slices

Once my apple slices were sprinkled with the cinnamon sugar mixture I placed the dehydrator on a small table on our back porch and loaded the trays into it.

The temperature dial was set to  the highest setting available – 155 degrees. I rotated the trays after a couple of hours to help  them dry evenly.

The trays of apples dehydrated for about 14 hours. But although the apple chips were completely dry they weren’t crunchy like my aunt’s were. 

I guess my dehydrator just didn’t get hot enough to crisp them.  Hummm, what to do….

I moved the dehydrated slices to a couple of large baking trays and placed them in my oven. I turned the oven on preheat for only about 2 minutes to get the oven good & hot. 

Then I turned the oven off again. I left the trays in the oven just soaking up that drying heat until the oven cooled completely. When they were cool I tasted them for crispiness- success!

Dehydrated Apple Chips

RancherMan says these little apple chips are fully addictive. He loves to grab a handful to snack on during the day. I must agree with him, they ARE addictive, deliciously crunchy and sweet!

And now that they’re dehydrated they take up very little space and no additional energy to store. I just placed them all into airtight containers. 

Now I won’t be able to tell you how long they will store because my handsome man is eating them up quick!

But I guess that’s what you hope for when you preserve the harvest… that the fruits of your labor will be eaten and enjoyed. Now that makes my heart happy!

~TxH~

5 Delicious Ways To Preserve Fresh Apples:

• Apple Pie Filling
• Cinnamon/Vanilla Applesauce
• Apple Cider
• Cinnamon/Sugar Apple Chips
• Fruit Leather Rollups

Other Delicious Apple Recipes

• Homemade Apple Pie
• Apple Pies Baked In Canning Jars
• Single-Serve Apple Hand Pies
• Apple Crumble from Apples in Syrup
• Baked Apple Pie Tortilla Roll
• Quick, Hot Apple Dessert
• Applesticks – Frozen Applesauce Sweet Treat
• Quick Spiced-Rum Fried Apples
• Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Snacks We Love

• Homemade Honey-Graham Crackers
• Fresh Pico de Gallo
• Homemade Hummus
• Rosemary Crackers w/Olive Oil & Garlic
• MYO Pita Chips Using Flour Tortillas
• Pumpkin Bread (with Cake-Mix Shortcut)
• Cantaloupe Bread w/Pecan Praline Glaze
• Easy Blueberry Muffins
• Fresh Pear Cake
• Rice Krispie Treats With A Chocolate Twist
• Healthier ‘Ice Cream’ Using Bananas & Fruit
• Easy Cookies-n-Cream Ice Cream Cake
• Easiest 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
• Cake-Mix Cookies – Only 3 Ingredients!
• Double Chocolate Banana Chunk Cookies
• Sugar-Free Chocolate No-Bake Cookies
• Triple Chocolate Truffles
• Getting Your Family To Snack On Healthy Veggies
• Watermelon Smoothie (or Daiquiri)
• Rich & Creamy Fudgesicles
• …And MANY MORE!

See All Recipe Posts

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