Fall usually means apple season. Apple chips are an easy way to make them into a pretty healthy snack bite.
But before we get into apple chips, I have a confession to make. I can be really clumsy at times!
I drop and break things (like spatulas) on a more frequent basis than the average person. And get my fingers in places, where they get hurt.
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For the most part people don’t really expect clumsiness from me. After all, I had several jobs waiting tables at restaurants in my school days. I remember one chef/boss asking me during one shift what was going on with me that day. Somehow she never came to see clumsiness as my default.
I wonder why I came to love being in the kitchen so much?! With this unlucky streak (or curse) of mine cuts and burns happen regularly. But this can’t hold me back from living out my passion for cooking, especially baking.
Recently I managed to get a steam burn on my elbow from the rice cooker. Although this totally had to do with the wind suddenly changing directions (windows open) and blowing the steam my way all of a sudden.
After getting married, my husband must have witnessed a number of these ‘accidents’ happen, when he observed that my problem isn’t totally uncoordinated motor-skills, but much rather the fact that I over-estimate my multi-tasking abilities.
Like the time, when I was about to put a plate of food onto the table and realized the sauce was still cooking on the stove. Before finishing the process of putting down the plate, I already looked towards the sauce on the stove. Although I was certain, the plate wasn’t quite over the table yet when I released it and it ended up on the floor.
Mentally and visually I tend to move on to new tasks before finishing the current one. Sometimes my husband tricks me by moving an item that I am about to grab the second I look away, and because I already look at where I am going to take that item, I don’t even notice him doing so and end up reaching for thin air.
He is regularly getting a good laugh out of me by teasing how I miscalculated the distance so much.
A few months back, I was picking up things around the living room; among them a book, clothes, the iPhone and keys. As I am putting the keys in its place, I hold on to the book and clothing items, but totally forgot there was the iPhone as well. And it dropped onto the tiled floor.
I gotta be honest here, this wasn’t the first time that I dropped it. Usually nothing happened or it only got a little scratch, but this time the glass screen cracked in many places and the phone couldn’t be used anymore 🙁 We had the screen replaced for a good lump of money a few days later and invested into a sturdier case for it. All was good until last week.
After reading above you might have guessed it. Last week I dropped the phone again!!!
This time only from maybe a foot off the ground but it cracked again despite it having a case around it.
Luckily only one corner cracked, so it is still usable. Nevertheless, I was devastated and soo embarrassed. Almost too embarrassed to admit it to my husband. But he was the best ever in his reaction and was almost happy, saying we now have a reason to get the new iPhone 5 once available in SE Asia.
Isn’t he truly the best? For me he is! 🙂 I am still not sure if I’ll ever dare touching a new phone however.
I am pleased to report, that the making of these apple chips didn’t result in any cut or burnt fingers and not a single dropped item.
They are a fantastic and almost healthy fall snack. Recipe adapted from Serious Eats.
- tart apples (as many as you like)
- lemon or lime juice
- 2 cups water
- ¾ cups sugar
- Peel and thinly slice apples with a mandoline or sharp knife. You may also core them, if you prefer. I only pushed the seeds out of the slices.
- Especially, when you are working with larger amounts, place apple slices in a bowl of water with lemon/lime juice to prevent browning before you are ready for the next step.
- In a shallow saucepan bring 2 cups of water and ¾ cups of sugar to a boil. Slide in a few apple slices at a time and boil until they start looking translucent.
- Pat slices dry with a clean towel or paper towel and place on a baking sheet. You may line the sheet, but the drying process might take longer then.
- Bake at 220F for about 45 minutes until the slices look dehydrated and slightly golden. The chips will only fully crisp once cool. Watch closely in the end as they turn from golden to burnt very quickly. Place slices on a cooling rack with spatula or tongues. If let to cool on baking sheet, they might get stuck.
- Store in an air-tight container, especially if you live in a humid climate. Otherwise the chips might soften again after a while.
Hi. Long time no see. I made your apple chips today (I used 3 apples) although I wasn’t sure if Alex would like them. Guess what? They are all gone 🙂 I guess I have to make some more. One “recycling” idea for the cooking water: after cooking the slices from 3 apples there is about 1 cup of water left. Some apple juice got into the water and with the sugar it is like apple syrup. So I canned one small jar of it.
Hope to talk to you soon. Miss you…
Hey, it’s awesome you both liked the apple chips so much. Love to hear that you are trying out recipes from my site. Great idea with the apple syrup. We are back in Thailand since today, will catch you on Skype, soon. We miss you all too.
Sorry about your phone droppings. Droppiness. Or how about clumsiness? 🙂
And these look great! I LOVE apple chips. I think I might try with coconut sugar!
Haha Erin, you make laugh 🙂 Making them with coconut sugar sounds like a great ‘healthified’ version.
I guess sugar is sugar but I feel better with coconut sugar. 🙂 Is it really cheap there?
Erin, you actually made me read up on the health benefits of coconut sugar. I guess it is a little better than regular refined white sugar. I haven’t actually seen anything labelled ‘coconut sugar’ around here, but then I read that around Asia the terms coconut sugar and palm sugar are used interchangeably, although technically they are different. I have definitely seen palm sugar around and it didn’t appear more expensive than regular sugar. I’ll see if I can incorporate it some time.
I’m a bit clumsy myself, so I understand! =) Sorry to hear about the latest phone drop, but I’m glad that means you can get the new iphone once it’s available. And these apple chips look absolutely wonderful! So glad that no Reginas were harmed in the making of them! =)
Thank you Amy. I sure am glad no one and nothing was harmed in the process of these apple chips 😉