Apple Crisps

Let's get this out.
I love chips.
I don't have much of a sweet tooth by nature (and also after years of working with sugar) but I love salty things. Especially when they are also crunchy. Chips, crackers, peanuts, carrots, they all fall into this grand category. Now I generally try to be good to myself and eat the better salty-crunchy combinations of things, and this following recipe is a fun version of that.
Have you ever bought apple chips? They are such a promising idea. Apples? Yummy! Chips? A no-brainer. Plus! Sometimes cinnamon. But...they don't measure up. Chewy in weird ways, oily, pokey. Let's just say: not my thing.

So out of love for my own stomach and hopefully yours, here's a dead-simple recipe that you can do easily in your oven. If you're lucky enough to own a dehydrator, go ahead and use that as instructed. I don't have room for a dehydrator in my apartment, so it's all oven for me baby! These aren't salty, but you could make them salty if desired.
Unfortunately my mandoline slicer is slightly smaller than the apple I purchased, and so my crisps ended up a little asymmetrical  I didn't core the apple before slicing, and as long as you remove the seeds, the center of the crisp is totally edible, especially after cooking! If you are concerned, use a little round cutter to take out the center of the slices. That just sounded way too painstaking to me, and I also can't resist anything star-shaped.
Really.

A note: feel free to experiment with spicing. Good ideas would include anything you'd use in chai or
pumpkin pie, garam masala, cumin, vanilla beans, or go bold with chile powder or paprika!

Tool recommendations: a silpat and a mandoline slicer (or "kiwi" brand slicer).

One last side note: I made these on a stormy, wet and humid day in Seattle. They of course wilted and became sadly less crispy quickly. This sort of thing happens here a lot! If you find yourself in the same situation for whatever reason, just throw them back in the oven briefly to crisp-ify them once again. And for goodness sake, just eat them!

Apple Crisps

Recipe by Cowen Park Kitchen

Homemade apple crisps, a healthy and yummy snack.

Ingredients

• 1 apple (I used a Washington Braeburn)
• dash of spices of choice (I used cinnamon and ginger)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
2. Slice very thinly on a mandoline or straight slicer or use a lovely sharp knife.
3. Place on sheet tray lined with parchment or silpat and bake for about 30-50 minutes, rotating trays a couple times.
4. Optional: about 10 minutes before they are done, peel them off the sheet gingerly (no pun intended!) and flip them over. This will ensure that they won't stick, but if you forget, it will not be a big problem.
5. Take them off the sheet when mostly firm and toasted. Let cool somewhere dry and consume quickly if you live in a humid climate (like Seattle!).