Oven Baked Apple Chips

So I was out in the rain doing a little photoshoot when Fly Guy wandered off and came back eating a large shiny red apple.  "Hey, where did that come from?  I thought you were just peeing in the bushes!"  Apparently several feet from a pecan tree we discovered there is also a tree loaded with delicious apples.  This is the best Fall ever!

Now what to do with all our apples?  And how to incorporate them in brown bag lunches?

Apple chips!  Crunchy, sweet, crinkly chips.  As a bonus they make your house smell like Christmas while baking.

Now there are several recipes for these chips but you just have to play with cooking times.  Different apples have different amounts of moisture.  I discovered this when I baked two kinds at once and one variety burned.  My final chips are almost identical to the Italian Dish's Apple Chips.  Check out how she gifted hers instead of just stuffing her face when she was done.

You don't have to add any flavor.  My apples were not sweet or tart when I baked them plain but still tasty.  The unflavored ones also seem to cook faster (or it could be my imagination).  My kids like the sugar spice variety best. 

Several cooks claim to cut these apples by hand.  Eh, not for me.  I use a mandoline slicer very similiar to this.  Easy peasy.
 

Oven Baked Apple Chips 

A few thinly sliced apples  (5 for me)
A handful of brown or white sugar (1/3 cup brown)
A few teaspoons of spices  (1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves)

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (I baked 3 pans at once).  Mix you sugar and spices in a small bowl then lightly dip one side of each apple slice before laying then on prepared baking sheets.  You can lay them close, but don't overlap.

Bake between 200 and 225 for 2 to 2.5 hours flipping once after the first hour.  The chips will be a little crunchy when done and further harden as they cool.  If they do not seem to be crisping up as desired you can turn off the oven after the initial 2 hours and leave the pans in for the slices to dry out.

Food Prep– Frozen Muffin Batter

If you give a moose a muffin... You know the story . Some mornings I feel like I have a herd of moose in my house. I couldn't keep up on the muffin front. I wanted leftover muffins for snacks and lunches without having to bake 100 muffins and then gag on the leftover banana smell in the pantry.

And then I came across a golden tidbit while reading Money Saving Mom.  You can freeze muffin batter raw!  It works, we've tried it.  

Just whip up your favorite muffin recipe and fill your greased or lined muffin tins as usual.  Place the whole pan in the freezer until the muffins are frozen solid.  Then pop them out and place in a freezer bag up to three months.  When you are ready to bake just add another 5 minutes or so.  Alternately you could place them in the pan to defrost in the fridge overnight and bake as usual in the morning.

We made a double batch of Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins (minus some sugar) this morning. Baked one pan and froze the other for later.

Fly Guy has 1.5 hours to get to the airport when he's called on reserve.  As soon as that phone rings one of us can pop in some muffins which will be waiting fresh when he heads out the door.  Oh my meese are going to love me! 

Two Ingredient Carry On Cookies

I've been hooked on different variations of these two ingredient cookies ever since they made their debut on The Burlap Bag. 

It's just ripe bananas, oats, and if you want a handful of a mix-ins.  When I say ripe I mean there should be a few brown spots on the skins of those nanners.

Ingredients

2 bananas
1 cup regular oats
Optional: 1/2 cup add-ins such as nuts or dried fruit

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 and spray a cookie sheet with oil.

Mash the bannans and oats together however you please but I choose to use a pastry cutter .  Add a few tablespoons applesauce if it's too dry or more oats if it's too wet.

Stir in your optional mix ins.  Not much more than 1/2 cup or things start to fall apart.I used chopped walnuts and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.

Drop by small spoonfuls on your greased cookie sheet and slightly flatten.  They come out of the oven in the same shape they went in.

Bake for 12-18 minutes.

I'm packing for Fly Guy's four day trip that starts tomorrow and his cooler is going to be tight.  Not to worry, I've found space in his flight bag.  If you see an unusually good looking pilot carrying a bag with a 'fly' sticker in an airport near you.  He has cookies.  I bet he'd share.