I’m becoming a bit more adventurous in the kitchen now that Teddy is getting a bit older and is becoming even more efficient at finger feeding. He’s been happy to munch on lightly steamed slices of apple for a while now so I thought it might be time to try something different and bake the apples instead.
I offered Teddy a half a baked apple (sliced into wedges) for breakfast this morning and they went down a treat! I did leave the skin on the apple and he managed to eat the soft flesh of the apple, and much to my surprise, spat the skin out. I stuffed these apples with dried fruit prior to baking them (baking helped to soften up the dried fruit) and also offered these to Teddy. He did manage to eat one prune before deciding that squashing the rest of his dried fruit into the highchair tray was much more fun.
Ingredients
2 medium size apples (skin left on)
1/4 cup diced dried fruit (I used prunes and raisins)
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup water
Preparation
- Wash apples thoroughly with water then dry. Using a sharp knife (or an apple corer) remove the core of the apple, and if necessary, cut a bit of the apple way to increase the size of the apple hole. Prick the skin of the apples with a fork (this helps to stop the apple from splitting when baking).
- In a bowl, combine dried fruit, sugar and cinnamon and mix well.
- Place apples in a roasting tray and fill the hole of each apple with some of the dried fruit mixture.
- Pour water into tray and place in a preheated 180C oven for 30 to 35 minutes, basting apples with water at 15 minute intervals and again at the end of the cooking time.
- Leave apples to cool before slicing and serving with the dried fruit from the centre of the apples.
Tip
You can slice and serve the baked apples either with the skin or without the skin (depending on how well your baby can chew) as a finger food for baby. These apples also make a healthy dessert for grown ups too, served with a dollop of plain yogurt.
