How To Make Dehydrated Apple Chips
By: Amy Jeanroy
Published: September 23, 2014

I love apple chips! We have huge apple trees on our farm. They are not treated in any way, except with great exultation all year long as we watch them come back to life in the spring, and slowly develop into a full tree of delicious fruits for my family to enjoy. 
We make loads of apple sauce, both sweet and plain. I use the plain for cooking, so it's actually like having two different items from the same fruit. Just like the potato post I did earlier this week, storing apples in as many different ways as possible makes them even more useful to our family. They are free! Why not use as many as possible? 
After making as much applesauce as possible, it is time to get a little more creative. I break out the dehydrator and start drying all the apples into chips and pieces. 
It's easy to do and using different types of apples will make the resulting chips taste different. Do what I do, and sprinkle some with cinnamon and sugar, while others you can leave plain. For an extra boost of flavor, add a little nutmeg to the cinnamon/sugar mix and watch your family eat them right up. Once you have plenty of chips, you can dice up the apples for a new shape. Season as you do the apple chips, and then sprinkle the resulting dried fruit onto you granola or yogurt for a healthy snack. 
If you need a visual, this is a wonderful video showing exactly how to go from plump apple to crispy chip. It's a great one! 

Still have apples left? How about making apple fruit leather? It's also pretty simple. Applesauce makes a great base if you have more fruit but just not enough to make an entire batch of fruit leather. You can mix them together since apples combine with most any other fruit very well. Here is a simple fruit leather recipe: 
Fruit Leather
4 cups of pureed apples. 2 1/2 cups covers an 18X14 inch area, 1/4 inch thick.
 
1 Cover your drying trays or baking sheets with food grade plastic wrap. If your dehydrator comes with special sheets for the trays, use those.
2 Wash fruit and remove any blemishes
3 Puree the fruit in a blender until smooth. If your puree is too thick, add water by the Tablespoon. 
4 Taste puree and add honey 1 Tablespoon at a time to sweeten, if desired. 
5 Spread puree onto prepared trays to a thickness of 1/8 inch in the center and 1/4 inch. The edges dry quicker than the center, and the extra puree is necessary to get an even drying finish. 
6 Dry fruit leather at 135 degrees in a food dehydrator or 140 degrees in a conventional oven. The fruit leather should be pliable and leather-like with no stickiness in the center.
 
7 Roll warm fruit leather still attached to the plastic, into a roll. Leave the rolls whole, or cut them into pieces with scissors. Store the rolls in a plastic bag or an airtight container.