Cooking with Kids: Baked apples are an ideal autumnal treat

Pic: iStock

The warm, aromatic spices of cinnamon and nutmeg are perfect for adding to a bumper crop of autumn fruit or for spicing up a tray bake. 

There is also some powdered ginger in the second recipe which can be a little spicier than the other two. 

You can put a spoon of each onto a plate and allow children to smell them and dip their finger and taste a tiny amount if they wish.

For children of about two to four years of age baked apples are a great way to get them involved in the kitchen. 

Washing the apples, helping to fill to hollow with raisins and then sprinkling on sugar are all tasks that enhance young children's skill set. 

After baking, the soft and sweet inside of the apple can be eaten with a spoon or scooped out and served with vanilla ice cream.

Following recipes and getting involved in baking not only helps older children learn to read procedural texts, which are texts that list a sequence of actions, but it is also a good way to unwittingly practice some maths. 

Today's activity might be a little messy, but it is a good lesson in fractions and can be extended to learning a little about adding and subtracting.

Baked Apples and Ice Cream

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

A comforting autumnal treat!

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 4 small cooking apples

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• ½ tsp nutmeg

• 2 tbs golden raisins

• ½ tbs soft butter

• 1 tbs brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

2. Wash the four apples and ask a grown up to cut the top off and take the core from the centre of the apple, leaving a little at the end.

3. Toss the raisins in the cinnamon and nutmeg. Divide the raisins into four bundles. Put one bundle into the hollow in the centre of your first apple and place the apple onto an oven proof dish. Do the same with the next three.

4. Divide the butter into four and put a quarter on top of the raisins in each apple then sprinkle the sugar on each piece of butter.

5. Put the top of the apple back on like a hat.

6. Ask and adult to put the dish into the oven and bake the apples for about 25 minutes. An adult can test them for you to see if they are completely soft.

7. Let the apple cool and you can either eat them by using a spoon or scoop out the centre and serve it with some vanilla ice cream.

Activity: Splish Splash Fractions

If you have a set of measuring cups you and your child can use them to learn about fractions. 

Show your child how to practice fractions by filling a basin with water and some smaller bowls of the same size. 

Using the measuring cups, show your child the various size measures, 1 cup, ½ cup, ¼ cup, 1/8 cup. 

Demonstrate how two scoops with the half-cup is equal to the water scooped with the one cup.

You can do this with the quarter cup, and so on. The children can count and measure taking the water in and out of the bowl.