Sweet Potato Chips

 

Sweet potatoes, I'll take 'em any way, shape or form.  By far, one of my favorite fall veggies.  I'm always searching for different ways to prepare them.  Combine that with the fact that my mom bestowed upon me her mandoline and this is what you get: chips :)  These chips were super easy to prepare.  My least favorite part of sweet pots is when I have to peel them - but no peeling here.  Just a thorough scrub, a pat dry, and onto the mandoline.  I had about six sweet potatoes and once I put them through the mandoline, they made a LOT of chips.  I actually had to bake them in batches because there were so many of them.  Seasoning was simple: olive oil, sea salt, and cinnamon.  That's it.  I made the very first round with pepper, but found that I didn't like the pairing of the cinnamon with the pepper.  Also, the chips have to lay flat and be spaced apart from one another on the baking sheets, otherwise they won't come out 'chip-like.'  Into the oven at 350 degrees for a brief 15 minutes.  (And trust me on that timing, I thought batch number two needed a few extra minutes and I ended up with undefined, black disks!).  When they were done, I simply piled them onto a plate in huge heaps, easily accessible for snacking as we went about our evening.  The best part was that my husband kept walking by the table swiping a chip or two, commenting on their sweetness.  He didn't believe me that there was no sugar added....

Make them again?  Yes.  Absolutely.  In fact, I am now interested to know what other types of vegetables I can 'chip.'

Improvements?  Well, in this first round I certainly learned on the job.  I tossed the sweet potato chips lightly in olive oil at first.  But found them to be oil-laden and heavy when they came out of the oven - they were not light and crisp.  So the second time around I switched to a spray olive oil instead.  This allowed me to achieve the chip consistency I was hoping for.  Besides the oil factor, I know are more spice combinations to be had with these sweet little pots, and that is what I plan on trying next.