Anna Olson’s Maple Baked Apple Bites

If I had a baking mentor it would be Anna Olson. For years she demystified yet still inspired the baker in me with her show Sugar. When she made her Maple Baked Apples Bites for her friends on her new show Fresh With Anna Olson I knew I just had to try making them! Low fat fruit chips? Alright! That’s my kind of treat!

First, you need a lot of time. These bites take more than two hours in the oven. The good news is they are very low maintenance. The apples do not need to be cored or have their skins removed. You just have to remove any little seeds and slice them very, very thinly. Two apples makes two trays worth of chips!

Line the baking trays with parchment and then sprinkle with icing sugar. Combine icing sugar and maple syrup in a bowl brush on to the bites. I actually used Aunt Jemima, to be absolutely honest. Although I am sure these would be even better with the real deal.

Bake them at 225F for an hour, turn them around and bake them for another hour. Then when they are finally drying out (see above) add more maple syrup, cinnamon and top them with pecans:

Bake an additional 20 minutes and you get tasty chips which must immediately be removed from the parchment to the cooling rack. My pans were too close to together so I had to bake the bottom tray an extra hour but wow, totally worth it.

Autumn is coming and apples are in season. The day for lazing slow baking are upon us and what joy to have the scent of apples and cinnamon filling my home.

This recipe is not difficult, just time consuming. The payoff is wonderful! I give this recipe five out of five wooden spoons.