Dehydrated Cinnamon Apples (with Honey)
Drying apples is a great way to save the Fall harvest. But, they are make a delicious healthy snack any time of the year. You can make dehydrated cinnamon apples in a dehydrator or the oven. This recipe uses the natural preservative powers of honey, cinnamon and cloves to bring out the best flavor in this tasty snack.
How to Make Dehydrated Cinnamon Apples
Apples keep well in storage with some varieties lasting for months. However, the sweeter types are quicker to spoil.
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Drying or dehydration is a great way keep them edible for longer. Also, a wide variety of spices can be included to create different taste experiences.
Dried fruit is not only tasty – it is also very nutritious. In most cases, a piece of dried fruit offers the same nutrition as fresh-in a smaller package.
When fruit is dehydrated, most of the water content is removed. This means it is much less likely to spoil. It is also rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Ingredients
Apples: When making dried apple rings or chips, you have several varieties to choose from. Some varieties tend to be sweet: Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious etc.
Others are not sweet but retain a tart flavor – especially when they are fresh apples.. Granny Smith is a variety know for having a sour-apple flavor.
Personally, I rarely buy apples with the main idea of dehydrating them. We love Fuji and that tends to be what ends up in the dehydrator. In my kitchen, honey dried apples are made from whatever is on hand at the time.
Honey: The good news is that you can use any variety of honey for pretreating your apples. Any good quality raw honey works well.
Spices: This recipe uses ground cinnamon and ground cloves. It is fine to use only cinnamon if you wish. I love the smell of cloves. But, the price of ground cloves is crazy unless you also use it for something else. You can also use nutmeg if that flavor appeals to you.
Using a Food Dehydrator
The easiest way to dehydrate apples is with a food dehydrator. While not an appliance you will use every day, it is a very handy item to have. I love my Excalibur dehydrator but other brands work well too.
You can create some very nice snacks with one. I have even dehydrated honey with mine! It is delicious on ice cream and can be used in diy beauty products too.
Of course, you don’t have to have a dehydrator. Apples can be dried in the oven too. Thin slices are baked at about 225° F for a couple of hours.
Step by Step Instructions:
1. Prepare apples by washing and then removing the core. I choose to leave the peel on for extra fiber but you can peel them if you really want to.
2. In a medium sized bowl, prepare your pre-soak. This is what adds a bit of flavor to your dehydrated apples but also helps prevent a lot of browning.
3. Use a mandolin slicer (unless you have a steadier hand than I do) to cut the apple slices into uniform thickness. This slicer and the special glove to prevent cuts is a wonderful addition to my kitchen. Place cut apple rings in the soak mixture for several minutes.
4. Remove apple slices from soak and let drain on a baking rack (or similar) for a few minutes. Then, sprinkle with spices and place in a single layer on the dehydrator rack. Dry in the dehydrator until fruit becomes crisp.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Here are a few tips to make your recipe a success:
- use any variety of apples but no brown spots
- lemon or lime juice is not required but okay to add
- if your apple rings break – that’s okay – you just made apple chips.
- if storing in glass – get a wide-mouth jar – my big apple rings wouldn’t fit LOL!
The texture of dried fruits depends to a degree on your dehydrator settings. The temperature and amount of time in the dehydrator results in either a leathery texture or crispy. Apples do contain a lot of moisture so they tend to be more spongy than some fruits when dried.
When stored in a sealed glass jar or tight-sealing zip lock bag- they will keep for at least 6 months. Though not necessary, you can freeze them for up to 1 year.
No, soaking is not required when drying apples but it helps improve the appearance of the final product. Citrus juice reduces browning. In this recipe, we used the preservative power of honey to reduce browning and add a slight sweetness.
Now that you have the hang of using the dehydrator and see how easy it is to make your own snacks. Consider trying these honey glazed pineapples they are outstanding. Another healthy treat option that uses honey is this recipe for Greek yogurt popsicles.
Don’t let that jar of honey sit all alone in your kitchen pantry. There are so many ways to enjoy use honey in the kitchen.
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Dehydrated Cinnamon Apples
Equipment
- Apple Corer
Ingredients
- 6 pieces apples
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup Honey
- 1 tbsp lime juice (optional)
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
Instructions
- Wash and dry 6 apples – your choice of variety. Use an apple corer or knife to remove the core and seeds. I chose to not peel my apples but you can if you wish.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together water, honey and lime juice. ( You may omit the lime juice or use lemon instead if your prefer).
- Using a mandoline slicer, slice apples into uniform apple rings. You can use a knife but the mandoline makes the job much easier. I recommend a special glove when using this type of slice.
- Place apple rings in the honey water mixture and leave to soak for 3 minutes. Do not over soak.
- Remove honey coated apple rings from liquid and allow to drain on a cooling rack or similar.
- Mix ground cinnamon and ground cloves together in a small bowl. Use fingers to sprinkle spices on top side of apples.
- Place apples on dehydrator trays in a single layer. Sides should be barely touching to allow good air flow.
- Run dehydrator for 12 – 24 hours at 135° F until dry and leathery or crispy as you prefer.