Cooking with Toddlers: Simple Apple Tart

Finding the perfect Montessori recipe for toddlers can be tricky. I usually find I have to get a bit creative with adult recipes.

This apple tart is a combination of a few different ones that I’ve adapted to allow for greater toddler independence. Alfie (3.5y) complete each of the steps and only needed guidance on what to do next. It was really delicious and looked far fancier than it was.

Toddler skills

• Spreading
• Rolling
• Peeling
• Mixing eggs
• Sieving

Ingredients

• 3 large apples (I used Fuji)
• 1 sheet ready-made puff pastry
• 2 tbsp apple purée
• 20-30g butter
• 1 egg
• Few tbsp castor sugar
• Pinch of cinnamon

Method

1. Roll out sheet of puff pastry, pinch the edges to make a ridge.
2. Spread 2 tablespoons of apple purée on the pastry like jam.
3. Peel, core, slice the apple and arrange in overlapping layers on the pastry.
4. Mix the egg and brush it over the exposed edges.
5. Dot with blobs of butter.
6. Sprinkle with castor sugar and a pinch of cinnamon.
7. Place in the oven at 180° for 30 minutes.

This recipe was so simple because we have an apple peeling, slicing and coring wonder machine! But I reckon that if you sliced an apple through its middle and used a ring chopper then you’d end up with a chunkier tart that would still be delicious.

There’s also a misconception that cooking with toddlers has to messy, however with the right set up and a carefully thought out Montessori recipe it doesn’t need to be. The prep and clean up here was about 20 minutes all together.