I absolutely adore making homemade holiday gifts for friends and family. They are always well received and appreciated. Dried apples were on my list this year to make as gifts and the addition of cinnamon and coconut sugar makes these dried apples so festive and delicious. You could certainly leave the apples plain, but I just love the added spice. As gifts I also like to make homemade greeting cards, coconut ginger granola, homemade almond butter, and homemade lotions (and other beauty products such as facial toner and body spray). Another favorite is the gift of tea. You can get so creative with tea, purchasing loose leaf and fun tea paraphernalia (check out my All Things Tea Pinterest board for more tea ideas).
Happy Holidays to all. I'm signing off until January. Until then, wishing you a restful and peaceful holiday filled with love and laughter.
-Amber & The Tasty Alternative Family
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Cinnamon & Coconut Sugar Dried Apples
Ingredients:
-4 pounds of apples (any variety will do, I used Fuji)
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-1/4 cup coconut sugar
Equipment:
-A good knife or mandoline
-Dehydrator
How To:
1. Wash, peel and slice apples (slice thick for chewy dried apples, slice thin for crispy dried apples). I like to cut out center seeds and the core.
2. Add apples to a large bowl and using hands, toss the apples with the cinnamon and coconut sugar, making sure all the apples are well covered.
3. Transfer apples (in one layer) onto a dehydrator with mesh screens.
4. Dehydrate on 95 degrees for 8 -10 hours (basically, overnight). I encourage you to test out different drying times. For another method, dehydrate on high (140 degrees) for 3 hours, then turn down to 95 degrees and dehydrate until your desired texture.
Notes:
*Yes you can make these in the oven set at a low temperature, however, I have not tried this, so I cannot give any specific directions. If you try it in the oven, please report back and let us know how it goes. I suspect they will be more like apple chips, but you never know.
*If you use a mandoline, the slices will be very thin and almost crispy. Hand slice thicker pieces for that nice chewy fruit dried texture.
The cut apples tossed in the cinnamon and coconut sugar
Here are the apples all dried and ready for the jars
Good morning you pretty little apples.
These dried overnight.
This recipe was shared on: Wellness Weekend, Paleo Link Party, Whole Food Fridays
These make wonderful gifts Amber, how beautifully packaged!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
AM - you are SOOOO talented and beautiful! I love this idea for gifts! Thanks so much for sharing this gem with us.
ReplyDeleteVery Merry Christmas to you and yours.
XXXOOO
Jen
Wishing you a wonderful holiday my dear Amber :) See you on the flip side ;)
ReplyDeleteNot only great gifts, but a great snack, too! Thanks for linking up to WellnessWeekend (your recipe is a featured recipe this week!). Hope you had a wonderful holiday, Amber, with your beautiful family! :) xo
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