Fall is coming soon, and it’s approaching much faster than I expected this year! Even though the official first day of fall isn’t until Tuesday, I am ready for fall flavors and foods.
I think the early snow we had a couple weeks ago quickly changed my gears from summer to fall earlier than expected. The weather tried skipping fall and moving right into winter! But right now the weather has been perfect, I’m just waiting for our next day of snow…
Our Summer Snow on September 11th
In honor of harvest flavors, I decided to include pumpkin spice in this month’s Recipe Redux recipe. The September Recipe Redux theme is dehydration!
Get Your Dehydrator On! Whether it’s extra garden bounty or a sale at the supermarket – dehydrating food is a budget-friendly way to stock up for later. You can use a food dehydrator, a low slow oven, or natural sunshine to preserve natural healthfulness. Show us how you like to dehydrate, or a healthy recipe for how you enjoy using dehydrated fruits, veggies or other bounty.
I don’t have a dehydrator appliance, and I resisted the urge to buy one just for this challenge, so I used the low and slow oven dehydration method.
I was a little wary of doing this since my lowest oven setting is 200 degrees and I thought my pears slices would burn easily, but it worked out really well and it still took over an hour for my pear slices to dry completely, which is far from scorching.
Pear Chips
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 15 mins
Gluten free, Paleo, Vegan; Free of: dairy, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, cane sugar
Course: Snack, Snacks
Cuisine: American
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 101 kcal
Ingredients
- 2 pears variety of choice, unpeeled
- Optional: ground cinnamon or other spices
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to it's lowest setting, or to 200 degrees F. The lowest setting on my gas oven is 200 degrees, so that is what I used for this recipe.
- Using a mandoline*, slice your pears crosswise (horizontally) in 1/8th inch slices (or just shy or 1/8th inch) until all of the pears are sliced. You can slice the pears by hand if you don't have a mandoline, just make sure the slices are uniform so they dry consistently.
- Discard the very end pieces and remove the seeds from the inner slices.
- Arrange the pear slices in a single layer on wire cooling racks or wire drying racks. Sprinkle the pear slices with cinnamon or other spices if you are using them.
- Move your racks to the the oven and bake for about 60-80 minutes, or until the pears are completely dried. Keep close watch on your pear crisps since the bake time will depend on your oven and slice thickness. If your lowest heat setting is less than 200 degrees, then it will take longer. If your pear slices are very thin*, it will take less time.
- Turn off the oven heat and let the pear crisps sit in the oven for another 30-60 minutes to continue drying without heat.
- Store in a sealed bag or container. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Notes: Slicing your pears to less than 1/8 inch will make them dry faster, but they may end up too fragile and crumbly if they are too thin
Nutrition Facts
Pear Chips
Amount Per Serving
Calories 101
% Daily Value*
Sodium 1mg 0%
Potassium 206mg 6%
Total Carbohydrates 27g 9%
Dietary Fiber 5g 20%
Sugars 17g
Vitamin A 0.9%
Vitamin C 9.3%
Calcium 1.6%
Iron 1.8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
The pear chips are so good! I had a hard time NOT eating them all and saving some to photograph (and share with my kids…). The Pear Crisps are amazing on their own, but you can jazz up the recipe if you like by making some Pumpkin Spice Dip to go with it.
The pear and pumpkin taste really good together! My kids loved the pumpkin dip and ate the rest of it with crackers when the pear crisps were gone.
Pumpkin Spice Dip
Prep Time
10 mins
Total Time
10 mins
Gluten free, vegan; Free of: dairy, soy, peanuts, eggs
Course: Dessert, Dip, Snack
Cuisine: American
Servings: 2 servings
Calories: 122 kcal
Ingredients
- 6 ounce container So Delicious Greek style Coconut yogurt vanilla or plain
- 1/2 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
- 1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Vanilla Creme Stevia drops to taste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut yogurt, pumpkin, maple syrup, spices, and vanilla, and mix together thoroughly.
- Serve with your favorite crackers or pear crisps. Store leftovers in the fridge.
- Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, use: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ginger Dash of pinch each of nutmeg and all spice
Nutrition Facts
Pumpkin Spice Dip
Amount Per Serving
Calories 122 Calories from Fat 18
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g 3%
Saturated Fat 2g 10%
Sodium 69mg 3%
Potassium 148mg 4%
Total Carbohydrates 23g 8%
Dietary Fiber 6g 24%
Sugars 11g
Protein 1g 2%
Vitamin A 190.6%
Vitamin C 3.1%
Calcium 20.9%
Iron 7.8%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Jody - Fit at 56 says
Looks so delicious!!!!!
athletic avocado says
this is incredible! gonna put my dehydrator to good use! YUM!
Abby @ BackAtSquareZero says
This look amazing, and I never thought of pear chips.
Carrie (This Fit Chick) says
I wish I had a dehydrator! This combo sounds intriguing! pear and pumpkin- I like 🙂
Sarah Jane says
No worries! I used the oven to make these – no dehydrator necessary 🙂
Sam @ Pancakewarriors says
Oh my this sounds amazing. I’ve never thought to make pear chips! I’m definitely trying this soon! Can’t believe you already had snow! Thanks for sharing
Holly Larson says
What a great idea to use pears instead of the usual apples – very creative ( and love anything using pumpkin – yummy dip idea!)
Mireya @myhealthyeatinghabits says
I don’t have a dehydrator so I’ll have to wait a while longer before I make these. Can’t wait for the weather to cool down to try them.
Sarah Jane says
I don’t have a dehydrator either! I used the oven for this recipe so anyone could make it 🙂
tara pittman says
I love fall for baking. I need to make these. Now to buy some pears.
Elle says
Never thought to try pear with pumpkin but it looks good. I like to dehydrate fruit in the oven.
Sarah Jane says
I wasn’t sure how it would taste together, but pear and pumpkin make a great combination!
Allie says
That pumpkin spice dip looks divine.
Sarah Jane says
Thanks Allie! 😉
Emily @SinfulNutrition says
Ugh I can’t believe you already have SNOW! I am not envious of you, haha. Pear chips are genius! I’ve seen apple chips, but never pear chips. And I’m pretty sure I would dip just about everything in that pumpkin dip. Including my face 😀
Sarah Jane says
I know! The snow came pretty early this year. At least the weather has warmed up again for a little while, but I know it will get chilly again soon!
Erin @ Her Heartland Soul says
These look delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Sarah Jane says
Thank you Erin!
The Food Hunter says
wonderful snack idea
Farrah says
I’ve been craving pears recently; I should attempt to make some of these! 😀
Sarah Jane says
If you make them let me know how you like them!
Megan (The Lyons' Share) says
Wow – genius! I have made apple chips in the oven but never thought to do pear chips. And anything creamy, pumpkin-flavored, and healthy is right up my alley, so I can’t wait to make the dip! 🙂
CARLA says
D*MN YOURE CREATIVE.
pear chips? who knew….
jill conyers says
This is brilliant! I just bought 2 pears and I’m going to use one of them to try this. Yum!
GiGi Eats says
Ha! I should have made a PEAR DIP to go with my Pumpkin Chips recipe I am posting tomorrow! 😉
Sarah Jane says
Haha, totally! I need to get over and see your recipe 🙂