I follow a website called howdoesshe.com
It’s full of great information, and when I saw their post about caramel apples, I decided to make some the night before Halloween. Let me preface this post by saying this: I hate caramel apples. I always tasted them because I felt like tasting caramel apples is pretty much an American requirement, but I never liked it. Ever.
This recipe looked different and it piqued my interest, so I gave it a try. Oh, MAN ohmanohmanohman am I glad I did! These apples are better than…
regular caramel apples.
As I melted the caramel in a pot, I took a tip from a friend and let my kids stick toothpicks into Granny Smith apple bits that I had scraped out with a melon baller.
I poked a toothpick in one to give them an example and then I dipped it.
Such a cute idea! Sadly, this was the only one that made it.
The rest of the apple balls ended up looking something like this:
And this:
My daughter calls them “witch stompers.” I only hope she doesn’t use them on me when I get witchy.
I should also tell you that she stole a full-sized apple while I was melting caramel and poked it like CRAZY with toothpicks and then put apple balls on top of THOSE toothpicks and then more toothpicks in the apple balls.
Now THAT was a witch stomper.
Anyway, it kept her busy while I dunked the apples in caramel. After letting the caramel set up in the fridge for about two hours, I melted some white chocolate chips and dunked the caramel apples in the white chocolate. Before the white chocolate hardened, I sprinkled the apples with cinnamon and sugar.
You all know me well enough by now to know that my kitchen pictures are about as glamorous as a shack.
But oh, sweet sweet sweet taste buds. You’ve GOT to try this. We’ve crowned these apples with the NEW TRADITION crown.
Here’s what I did:
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Ingredients:
12 large, tart apples
Homemade caramel – or 2 bags Kraft caramels if you are short on time (I used the bags!)
2 bags white chocolate chips
1 T oil for thinning and it helps the
chocolate set faster.
1/2 cup sugar mixed cinnamon to taste usually about 1-2 teaspoons
Popsicle/ craft sticks
Cellophane bags for wrapping
Ribbon for tying and decorating
Any cute tags to attach
Caramel Recipe (if you don’t use bagged)
4 cups of sugar
1 can of evaporated milk
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of unsalted butter
1 tsp. of Vanilla
2 cups of light corn syrup
Instructions for caramel:
While on medium heat, bring
mixture to a rolling boil.
Slowly pour milk in as you stir.
Melt butter. In a heavy saucepan
combine sugar, syrup, and butter over medium heat. It takes a while at this
point. I thought it would never quite get to the right temperature, but just
keep stirring. Slow and steady wins the race, do not raise your temperature. The
caramel will turn to a caramel color. Cook to a firm ball stage (Drop a little
of this syrup in cold water and it will form a firm ball, one that won’t
flatten when you take it out of the water, but remains malleable and will
flatten when squeezed.) or 240-245 degrees. Once at firm ball stage, take off
heat and add vanillaStir constantly. Let it cool for five to ten minutes and
then test an apple.
Tip1: have all these ingredients ready and pre measured so you do not burn
caramel. It works best with a candy thermometer, nice ones are great, but a
cheap one from the grocery store will do the job as well.
Tip2: once sugar has dissolved to syrup do not re introduce new sugar, it
will crystallize. Keep the sides of your pan and utensils clean.
Instructions for apples:
1. Wash and dry apples. Keep apples cold, it works much better. I did an ice bath bath in my sink!
2. In a medium to large saucepan make caramel or melt caramel according to
package directions
3. Put popsicle stick in the apple.
4. Dip in melted caramel making sure
to fully coat it. Let it drip drip drip then take a knife to scrape off the
bottom so you do not have a large foot of caramel when dried.
5. Place on parchment or wax paper that has been sprayed with cooking spray
heavily or a great non stick cookie sheet sprayed with oil or smeared butter.
6. Cool in the fridge until caramel is set up. 2-3 hours is best.
7. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals. You can add a
little shortening or veg oil if the mixture is too thick.
8. Coat the apple with the chocolate.
Again drip drip drip and then scrape
excess off.
9. Sprinkle it with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
10. Cool completely in the
fridge.
Check out a full recipe and tutorial HERE , glamorous pictures included. Don’t compare. Thanks.
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