Kale is cool

I love kale.

I love it raw, cooked, and dried.  One of my favorite snacks is kale chips, otherwise known as dehydrated kale.  There are many different recipes out there, but I think mine trumps all, because I love a little sweet and salty mixed, don't you?

Disclaimer:  The first time you make this, you're going to have to keep an eye on the kale.  Oven temps will greatly affect the outcome, so you need to watch it and take note of what works for you.




Kettle Kale Chips

Turn your oven on to 325' F.

Plunge one head of kale into a sink of cold water and wash thoroughly.  Separate the leaves from the stems and transfer the leaves to your salad spinner.  You'll want them to be pretty dry when you start adding ingredients.

Throw the leaves into a large bowl.

Add about a Tbsp of olive oil, a tsp of maple syrup (you can add a bit more if you like, but go easy.  The maple syrup greatly increases the chances of burning.  Add sea salt (I like herbamare because it has other mild flavours in it).

At this point, you get your hands in there and start tossing the leaves and massaging the ingredients into the leaves.  This is important because of the creases in the kale leaves.  You want them completely coated.  Then taste a leaf to make sure you have enough sweet/salty flavour and adjust your ingredients if necessary.    You could stop right here and enjoy a yummy salad, in my opinion.  :)

Ready to get crispy!

Lay the leaves out thinly on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for about 20 minutes.  Again, times are approximate because oven temps vary.  Keep checking the crispness of the chips until they are super crisp, but not brown.  You want them to keep the nice bright green color.

(I ate this entire thing by myself...in one sitting :O)

This would work so much better (and it would be healthier) if you have a dehydrator, but I have made many batches of this stuff in my oven.  It's a favorite snack at our house, that's for sure!

Leave your comments after this post if you had to adjust anything and let me know how your chips turned out!

Happy munching,