These oven-baked dried apple rings are soft and chewy - almost like candy! But with no added sugar, these apple rings are a healthy and delicious treat.
Is there a secret to coring apples? Please tell me that there is and I'm doing it wrong.
I have an apple corer and I can never get it to go in through the stem and out through the bottom - it always goes out slightly to the side of the bottom and then I have to core my apples twice. And twice-cored apples are not as nice looking as once-cored apples.
Anyways... I made apple chips last fall and I decided to revisit that idea, but with the addition of chai spices - cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and just a pinch of cloves.
Instead of baking the apples until they were crispy, I baked them until they were soft and chewy. Erin from Texanerin Baking posted chewy apple chips last year and I wanted to see if I could make my recipe chewy too.
Because the only descriptor I like more than spiced is chewy. Chewy is never not good! Yes, I said never not!
You Don't Need a Dehydrator!
Apple rings and chips are really simple to make at home. While it's nice to have a dehydrator for these sorts of things, you don't need one - an oven set at a low temperature works too.
When you make your own dried fruit, you can avoid adding sugar (a lot of dried fruit has added sugar!) and sulfites.
Sulfites are added to dried fruit to help make it last longer, but they can be a trigger for migraines, so I try to avoid them as much as possible.
So homemade dried fruit might not last as long as the kind you buy at the store, but it's so tasty, you'll probably want to eat it all within a day or two anyway. (Maybe even within an hour or two!)
Ingredients
- 1 extra-large apple (Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Braeburn, and Fuji work well)
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp ground ginger
- ⅛ tsp ground cardamom
- pinch of ground cloves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Core the apple and use a mandoline slicer to slice it between ⅛- and ¼-inch thick. (If you don't have a slicer, don't worry, you can do it by hand too!) Place the apple slices in a large bowl.
- Combine the spices in a small pinch bowl. Sprinkle the spices over the apple rings and use your hands to gently toss to coat.
- Transfer the apple slices to the baking sheet. Bake the apples for 60–90 minutes, or until they're dried and shriveled, but still tender.
Ronnie Fein says
Yes, chewy is wonderful. So are fresh apples. I never get to core my apples well. Don't care though, because they're just for us.
Kiersten says
Yeah, I guess it doesn't matter too much, although sometimes when it takes 2-3 times to get the core out, there's more hole than apple in my rings!
Stacy says
I don't have a problem when I core small apples, but with the large ones I do. One day I asked my husband to core a large apple for me and when I came in the room he had a perfectly cored apple, he used the pineapple corer!
Aidan says
I slice my apples, then cut the core out of each slice with a sharp little biscuit cutter I found at Sur La Table. It works really well and looks nicer than when I cored the apple and then sliced it.
Kiersten says
That is a great tip!
Christelle Lochner says
I think that the reason for the corer not going through the apple straight is the fact that the apple is not really standing upright because the bottom is not flat. Try cutting a small piece off the bottom of the apple so that it can stand on a flat 'foot piece'.
Kiersten says
I am going to do that next time! Thanks for the tip. 🙂
Ulla Lorriman says
I have just acquired a wonderful gadget to core,peel and slice an apple all in one go, it takes about ten seconds! A complete joy as I stew apples every other day during the winter months.The gadget costs £15 from Lakeland.
It looks and feels nicely oldfashioned.
Caitlin says
apple rings remind me of my dad because he loves a salad at panera with them in it. these look delicious. i love that they are soft. never liked tough apple rings.
Kiersten says
Do they really sell a salad with apple rings in it?! Oh man. But I bet it has meat in it too, right? 😛
Heather says
it's a really good salad, but it does have chicken on it. No reason you couldn't request it without the chicken. All the salads are made to order.
Kiersten says
I didn't know that! I've tried to order sandwiches without the meat there and they said they couldn't do that, so I assumed it was the same for salads.
Eat Good 4 Life says
I have made these apple rings before, well very similar recipe, and everyone enjoyed them. I need to make them again. They are such great snack. I love that you added cloves to them.
Kiersten says
I love cloves! My mom used to always stick cloves in oranges for a homemade air freshener, so whenever I smell them, I think of that. 🙂 But a little goes a long way!
Alexis @ Hummusapien says
I've made a similar recipe before with just cinnamon and they were awesome!! I love the cardamom addition in yours. By the way, your pictures have been just stunning lately lady!
Kiersten says
Aw, thank you. 🙂 I spent a lot of time pondering how to photograph dried apples. They're not the post photogenic food. 😉
Emily says
Have you tried flipping the apple over and coring from the bottom instead of the top? That might work a bit better.
These look delicious, if I had apples on hand I'd make a batch. We have pears...hmmm...
Kiersten says
Hmm, no, I haven't. I'm going to have to give that a try! I've never made dried pears before, but I bet they are delicious too!
Zarah says
They really are! My mom used to make dried pears, like this, with the pears from our garden and I looooved them even more than dried apples, which I loved plenty. Hope you try!
Stephanie @ henry happened says
I hate coring apples too - I always have to flip it over & push it through the bottom with my fingers & it hurts! These look so yum - they've been on my to make list since last fall!
Kiersten says
I made Chris try it to see if maybe I just suck at coring apples, but nope, he couldn't do it either. What's up with that?!
Holly says
I just made these earlier this week and, I too, was frustrated by the trouble of coring the apple! My first try I didn't core at all, just took out the seeds but then eating the apple chips wasn't great when I got to the core. Second try didn't fare much better and next go round I am going to use my apple corer that I generally save for apple pie making when I have lots of apples to work on. I liked mine chewy too and next time won't bake them quite as long. I am going to try your spice combination. Sounds great!
Kiersten says
Yeah, usually I make the apple chips without coring! But then I thought maybe it would be better to core them first because it's annoying to eat around the middle. I definitely like coring them first more, although they don't look quite as nice that way.
Deb says
Sounds so tasty! I use a coring method I saw on an old Jacques Pepin tv show; the apples need to be cut in half, though. Cut in half and then use a melon baller to cut a V at the top and bottom to cut those out, then use the melon baller to cut out the seeds and core on each half. Works for pears, too.
Kiersten says
Thanks for the tip! 🙂
Kelly @ A Girl Worth Saving says
I love simple so this looks beautiful Kiersten! Also, it has much less calories than a cake, lol. 🙂
Kiersten says
They are really good. 🙂 And they're accidentally paleo!
Sonja says
Don't try to dug in the corer from one side to the next. That is what results in the corer going in sideways at the other end. Instead, try coring with a 'screwing' motion, by turning the apple around in your one hand and controlling (screwing in) the corer with the other. This makes you have better control over the corer. But never expect an almost symmetrical result, because apples are NOT symmetrical. All the best!
Kiersten says
Ah, that makes sense! I will try that. Thank you!
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
These apple rings look so good, I love the warming spices!
Ginger says
I just made a big batch of apple rings yesterday. I really wish I'd read this post beforehand. Oh well, just an excuse to make more, right? 😉
Kiersten says
Hey, they're healthy! So yes, definitely make more. 🙂
Nicole says
I just came back from apple picking and was planning on making apple chips tonight - maybe I'll make em chewy!
Kiersten says
They are so good chewy! I like them crispy too, of course. 🙂
Ruta says
This looks like a perfect way to finish off those apples we picked. And I like how you left the peels on. Thanks!
Kiersten says
I always leave them on--my mom drilled into my head growing up that the peels are the healthiest part. 😉
[email protected] says
The chips look so tasty!!!! Miam miam!
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
I finally read the post and saw that you mentioned me. Weeee! 😀 Thanks a ton!
I have trouble with the apple corer too. There have been many, many bloody accidents. At least the husband is always around to take over. 🙂
Your chewy apple chips look great! Love that you didn't use any sweetener at all. 🙂
Kiersten says
Oh man, I've never had bloody accidents with my corer. (My mandoline slicer is another story...) That sounds painful!
Genevieve says
Glad you posted this! I just bought a bag of those dried apple chips from the store the other day because they were on sale, but even still I found myself thinking it would be a lot more economical to make a batch at home...and now I know how! And I can make chai flavoured ones!
Kiersten says
I think they're a lot tastier when you make them at home too. 🙂
Heather says
What if you didn't core them before you sliced them. you could use your corer on each individual slice and only cut out what you need. I don't have a corer so that's what I do, but I use a mellon baller to cut out the core from each slice.
Kiersten says
I was thinking about that too. Next time! 🙂
Shirley says
I used to do that all the time with my corer. Lately I insert the corer through the top and stop halfway, then pull it out. Flip over the apple, and insert it through the bottom. This usually works, and if the core comes out in one piece (sometimes it breaks in two) it's bent. Must be why it never works for us to push the corer straight through.
Kiersten says
Ooh, I never thought of doing it that way--you are a genius!
becki kramer says
I use my melon baller to get the core out. Works perfectly and no cuts on the hand!
Kiersten says
Thanks for the tip!
Elyse @ Lizzie Fit says
Apple rings are my favourite dried fruit. Hands down!
Susannah says
I'm a couple years late, but here's a tip if you're doing apple slices again this season: DON'T BOTHER CORING! They make a pretty pattern in the slices and save you a ton of work. Just ditch the seeds, which contain small amounts of cyanide.
Love your site!
Julie says
There is a great gadget I found at Menards that peels, cores, and sliced apples at the same time. Is you want to leave skin on you can pull bake the blade and just core and cut. I have made 1/2 a cooler of apples into applesauce in a single evening using this tool. Well worth the $10 (yep...$10) I spent on it!!
Kiersten says
I'm going to have to look for that! I was just making applesauce for my daughter yesterday and cursing my peeler. 😉