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Easy Cinnamon-Apple Chips: Organic, Homemade, and a Great Gift Idea
I fully intended to share these babies a week or more ago because they make a perfect end-of-year teacher gift. But summer is here already for my kids (and probably yours too) and my schedule has gone from having one to….basically none at all.
Thus, no post written…so better late than never. Here ya go.
I know I’ve mentioned it here before, but my husband seems to have an unnatural affinity for my Excalibur Dehydrator. He is always looking for excuses to use this baby.
When that thing comes out of the pantry I know that there are going to be some fun things emerging…and a lot of space getting taken up on my counter. But, he has gotten quite creative over the last couple of years and I have yet to share one of his masterpieces.
So, with Father’s Day approaching, I thought today would be a good day for me to give some kudos to one of the best hands-on, involved, and FUN dads I know…my hot husband.
This guy can make a mean banana chip, a perfect fruit leather, drool-worthy raw power bars, and dried mangoes like nobody’s business.
But, today I’ll just brag about his insanely amazing Cinnamon Apple Chips.
I guess he’ll have to wait until next Father’s Day for me to boast about his lean mean grilling skills. I don’t want all of this praise to go to his head or anything. 
These super Easy Cinnamon-Apple Chips use 2 ingredients…guess which two…. Yup. Cinnamon and Apples. That’s it.
The key to making these babies nice and perfectly crispy is by using a Mandoline Slicer on the 1/4 inch setting.
And I’m just going on record here to say that I think that the Mandoline is also the key to my husband’s love affair with this whole dehydrating process. The guy loves that handy gadget and looks for reasons to use it.
Oh, I’ll give him one more major credit today… Since some Dehydrators (like mine) do not have an automatic shut-off timer, it is a pain if you need to shut off your dehydrator in the middle of the night. My husband came up with the BRILLIANT idea of plugging the dehydrator in to an inexpensive lamp timer and then just setting it for the time he would want to shut it off. Problem solved. Works like a charm.
That idea alone deserves some major Father’s Day love!
This year, I decided to give these Homemade Cinnamon Apple Chips to each of my boy’s teachers along with a little Amazon Gift Card. It seemed like a fitting gift and got rave reviews from everyone.
And since I did not get this post out before most of your kiddos were out of school, you can just tuck this little nugget of an idea in the back of your mind and pull it out next year when you are running around like crazy trying to come up with that perfect gift idea.
Easy Homemade Organic Cinnamon-Apple Chips
Makes enough for 8 small gift bags
Ingredients:
- 12 Organic Apples, such as Fuji, Pink Lady, or Braeburn
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
Directions:
1. Wash and core the apples. Using a Mandoline, or a really good knife and a steady hand, cut the apple into 1/4 inch rings. Lay rings evenly on your dehydrator trays so they are not touching. Sprinkle apples evenly with cinnamon. Place trays in dehydrator.
2. Dry at 135 degrees F for about 7 – 8 hours, until desired crispness is reached. If your climate tends to be more humid, you can increase the time to about 9 hours.
Note 1: Some Dehydrators (like mine) do not have an automatic shut-off timer. If that is the case, just get an inexpensive lamp timer and plug the dehydrator into that and set it for the amount of time you need and then it will just shut off on it’s own.
Note 2: You can also make these in your oven. Simply set your oven to 200 degrees. Prepare as listed in Step 1 and then bake them for about 2 1/2 hours, flipping once half-way through.
HAPPY SUMMER BREAK EVERYONE!! HOPE YOU ARE STARTING IT OFF WITH A BANG!
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