Baked Apples

What You Need:

• 4 apples
• 1 cup oats
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• Apple corer
• Paring knife
• Mixing bowl
• Spatula
• Spoon
• Baking pan
• Tinfoil

What You Do:

1. Start by getting those apples ready for baking! Have your child use a paring knife to cut the tops and bottoms off the apples off, then use an apple corer to carefully remove the central core of the apples. Be careful – apple corers are sharp!
2. Invite your child to place the apples on a baking pan and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Now she can get the stuffing ready by mixing together the oats, brown sugar, vanilla, and maple syrup in a mixing bowl with a spatula until it resembles coarse sand. Then she can cut up the butter into cubes and use a fork to mix it in, too.
4. Offer your child a spoon to scoop the stuffing into the center of the apples. She can mound the mixture on the tops of the apples until each apple has been filled and topped.
5. She can cover the apples with tinfoil and place the baking pan in the oven for 1 hour. After an hour of baking, your child can carefully remove the baking pan from the oven, remove the tinfoil, and return to crisp up for an additional 15 minutes.
6. Now that the whole family can’t wait any longer due to the wondrous smells coming from the oven, carefully remove the apples from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
7. Serve the warm apples alone, or alongside a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream.