Asian Glaze Beet Chips

It's perhaps a little difficult to explain just how this came about.  I have been looking for some time at all the various fruits and veggies that people have turned into chips.  I like the crunch that a baked chip has over a deep fried variety, because I think they have less of a "greasy dust" texture.  It's the same reason why I like kettle chips.  They are just much crunchier.  I am not a big fan of the instant disintegration of typical mass produced chips.

Plus, I am always looking for ways to sneak in new veggies, and give me a break these chips are BEAUTIFUL.

Anyway the Asian Glaze idea is still a bit of a mystery as to how we ended up with it on these chips.  I use a pretty consistent glaze in my stir fry and similar dishes, because soy sauce apparently wasn't something I could leave alone either...

Asian Glaze Ingredients:
-2 TB Soy Sauce
-Pinch brown sugar
-Quick squirt of honey
-1 packet of True Lime (or a little lime zest, whichever you have on hand)
-1/4 tsp Ginger

Mix up all the glaze ingredients (it will make well over what you need for these bits, we will come back to that in a second) I whipped mine all together with a fork because I am high tech like that.  Using a mandoline and kevlar gloves, so no fingers are lost in the making of these beet chips) thinly slice about 4 beets (ends cut off first of course, I did not peel mine). 

The four I bought were in a bundle so they were smaller than the ones you can buy open stock.  As long as you don't care how many cookie sheets you use, you can clearly slice up as many beets as you wish.

To avoid getting my countertop purple, I put saran wrap down over my cutting area.  I really did not want to stain anything, cutting board included, especially without knowing whether I would like this recipe.  A stained board and a yucky chip would have been a horrible combination.  I also did not want to turn my hands purple, so I made a saran wrap glove to pick the slices up.

I know, wasteful.  But from all the times I have been dyed by cake coloring, I was NOT interested in turning purple.

Anyway, lay the beet slices on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet, unless you just enjoy washing purple beet juice off things.  Spoon a drop or two of glaze on them and then use the back of the spoon to rub it over the entire top surface.  I only put the glaze on one side because the soy sauce does have a high salt content and a little bit of glaze goes a long way.  Bake them at 350 for about an hour, flipping the chips every 20 minutes or so.  You may have to pull some of the smaller rings off before time is up.  Depending on your slice thickness, your time may be different, so really pay attention after the first 20 minutes.  I put my chips out on a wire rack after to cool.

I used the thin slice setting on my mandoline, but had I used super thin they might not have taken as long.  I would definitely not go any thicker. 

Happy crafting!