Make Dried Apple Rings

What You Need:

• Apple
• Apple corer
• Knife
• Sheet pan
• Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Vegetable oil
• White paper
• Pencil

What You Do:

1. Invite your child to carefully core the apple with the apple corer. Using kitchen tools is an essential culinary skill, but does need parental observation – tools are sharp!
2. Once the apple is cored, invite your child to carefully slice the apples into thin circles. She can try to cut as many slices as possible from the apple. She can also preheat the oven to 200 F to get it warmed for dehydrating the apple slices.
3. Now she can coat the sheet pan with the vegetable oil and gently place the apples in a single layer, turning them over to coat both sides with the oil.
4. Invite your child to sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon on the slices, turning them again, and then place the pan in the oven.
5. The process of dehydration has been used for years and years to preserve food so it can be eaten long after it might have gone bad. By taking the time to evaporate the moisture from the item, it resists molding or breaking down!
6. Now your child can create a chart to document the changes the apple slices go through during the dehydration process. She can mark an update every 30-minutes during the duration of the process.
7. Invite your child to flip the apple slices 2-hours into the dehydration process, allowing both sides of the apples to dehydrate evenly.
8. After about 4 hours, invite your child to remove the apple slices from the oven and observe the changes, writing them on her chart. Now it’s time for a taste test to see how the apples taste!