Did You Know You Can Turn Apple Peels into a Delicious Snack?

One of the things that made flying cross-country with a toddler a bit more bearable was the free snacks handed out on the airplane. These little bags of treats helped maintain both my blood sugar level and acted as bribes to keep my daughter from roaming the airplane cabin.

My favorite discovery in the basket of snacks was cinnamon-sugar pretzel bites. Sweet and a tiny bit savory, these pretzel bites were addicting but really weren’t the healthiest option. What if I could take the same concept and make a healthier snack instead? Thus roasted cinnamon-sugar apple peels were born!

I’m one of those people who usually prefers to peel my apples, especially when making baked goods. The resulting pile of peels destined for the compost bin make me sad though. Then Faith came up with a great idea to turn potato peels into a snack, and I thought, why couldn’t the same thing apply to apple peels? I got to work experimenting.

While you can dehydrate apple chips in a low-temperature oven for hours, I went with a high-heat roasting method instead and loved the results and the quick cooking time.

Just toss your apple peels with a light coating of melted butter or a neutral-flavored oil (I tossed the peels of 4 apples with 1/2 tablespoon of melted butter) and a pinch of salt. Mix up some cinnamon sugar (1 teaspoon granulated sugar and 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon), then toss half of it with the peels.

Spread the peels in a single layer on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet and roast at 400°F until brown on the edges, about 12 minutes. Watch carefully as they can go from browned to burned easily!

After the peels are roasted, let them cool on the baking sheet a few minutes to crisp up like bacon, then toss with the rest of the cinnamon sugar while still warm.

These crispy, sweet-scented apple chips are a healthier, delicious alternative to crunchy pretzels that help use up otherwise useless kitchen scraps!