Caramel Apples

They say, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”  I’ll use this old saying as my excuse to eat these delicious caramel apples.

I have to confess, when I was a little girl, I used to receive a few of the caramel apples from the grocery store every year.  Instead of eating the whole thing, I would lick the caramel right off of the apple and, (I am slightly embarrassed to say) throw away the actual apple.  At least now I eat the whole thing.

The best part about these caramel apples in the delicious homemade caramel sauce that they are dipped into.

According to the Digital Research Library of Illinois, the original Caramel Apple was invented in Chicago and were named the Affy Tapple.

I used a combination of Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples.  I have to admit, I prefer the sweet Golden Delicious over the tart apples.   However, I wanted to make both to give my family a choice.

To Prep the Apples:

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Thoroughly wash the apples and dry them.  Any moisture will prevent the caramel from sticking properly.

With a pairing knife, remove the stems from the apples.  Insert a candy stick or heavy duty chop stick into the center of each apple.  I could not find candy sticks so I used these heavy duty chop sticks.  They worked pretty well.

To Make the Caramel Sauce:

First, you melt the butter in a tall heavy saucepan.  Make sure that your saucepan is tall because the mixture will more than double in volume as it cooks.

Add the brown sugar, cream, corn syrup, and vanilla.  If making this for grown-ups, you could omit the vanilla and stir in a tablespoon of your favorite hard drink.  Using Bourbon or Whiskey works very well.  Just a though.  A happy thought.

Cook at low to medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves and the sauce simmers and thickens.  Continue to stir occasionally throughout the process.

Also, please don’t leave the sauce unattended.  It might burn and create a hot mess that you have to clean up.

The secret to a great caramel sauce is patience.  It takes what seems like forever.  At one point you might think that it will never thicken.  Keep that in mind.  However, after about 15 to 20 minutes or so, the caramel sauce will be firm enough to coat the back of your wooden spoon.  If you have a candy thermometer, it should read between 245 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the mixture from heat.  You have delicious caramel sauce you can use for lots of deserts.  But today, we are making Caramel Apples!

Extra note, the sauce will continue to harden after you remove it from the heat.  You will have to work pretty quickly to coat the apples, especially after the majority of the apples have been coated.

If the caramel gets too hard you can return it to the heat, just until it gets more pliable again.

To Assemble:

Rotate each apple in the caramel sauce.  Use a spoon to make sure you cover the entire apple with caramel sauce.

Look at how shiny and pretty it looks!

Holding the caramel apple over a bowl or plate, pour the sprinkles over the apple.

Set the caramel apple back onto the parchment paper.

Wait 15 minutes, or until they are completely set, and enjoy!

#CaramelApples

#CandiedApples