July 4th Baking

When Natalie turned 2 years old, I decided it was time to teach her how to run a kitchen. I know - it's a little young, but we love cooking together. This summer we haven't had a lot of baking time because it's too hot to keep the oven on. So, when July 4th came around, I decided it was time to bake a yummy treat for our get-together. Natalie was so excited, and made both of us wear our aprons! Here we are, making our festive 4th of July apple pie . . .

First, we made the dough from scratch, and then divided it up into 3 sections. Natalie added some food coloring to 2 of the sections to make our Red and Blue. She thought it was pretty cool watching the colors mix, and got her hands nice and dirty.

Next, we rolled out the bottom pie crust, and added our cut up apples, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Natalie did a very good job (I didn't put anything in the pie, she did the entire pie filling herself).

And last, we put the top on our pie. We made an American Flag Apple Pie!
Natalie was very proud of her festive treat.

And this, my dear friends, is what happens when you leave your child to pick up the mess. She made a mountain, and buried all the colored scraps of pie crust. Then, decided to sprinkle it on her toes. She even managed to get some on her cute little face!

Baking with Natalie . . . one of my Favorite things to do!