Sunday, October 28, 2012

Caramel Candy Corn Apples

by Peg Cochran


I remember when I was a kid trick-or-treating that the elderly couple down the street always gave us the biggest, most beautiful Red Delicious apple you could imagine.  Of course this was before we had to worry about sick people putting things in apples.  At the time I thought it was the biggest rip-off.  An apple?  Puleeze.  Plus they always invited us in, and we had to stand there quietly while they chatted with my mother, wasting valuable trick-or-treating time.

Now caramel apples are a different story!  I decided to try my hand at them with mixed results.  They taste great, but I’m not very artistic (or patient) so mine didn’t turn out looking like the beautiful ones you see in gourmet food stores.  But it was fun!  I decided to use candy corn on them to accent the Halloween theme along with a drizzle of chocolate.  One of the biggest stumbling blocks was keeping my husband out of the caramels before I had a chance to make these!

You'll need apples, caramels, candy corn and sticks



Ingredients:
1-14 oz bag caramels (the kids can help you unwrap them!)
3 apples
sticks for the apples
your choice of toppings
Chocolate chips

Melt about 30 caramels in a pan with a tablespoon of water over low heat.  Keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

Submerge apples one at a time in boiling water for a couple of seconds.  Remove and dry vigorously with a towel.  (this will remove the wax coating they put on apples which would make it harder for the caramel to stick.)

When the caramel is melted, hold the apple by the stick and dip in caramel.  I found it was easiest to put the apple in the pan and then drizzle on the caramel with a spoon.  When coated, quickly roll the apple in the candy corn or your topping of choice.

I placed the apples on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Note to self, either butter the foil or spray with Pam.  The caramel STICKS and I had to wrestle them free!  Melt a handful of chocolate chips in the microwave (about 1/3 cup) and drizzle over apples. 

I found I had to warm the caramel between apples because it would harden very quickly.





Available now from Berkley Prime Crime

Available now from Berkley Prime Crime

  

3 comments:

  1. I love caramel apples. My girls think they are too old to make them now so I usually just buy them each one. Do you remember, or have you ever had the red candy apples? They had a hard candy shell on the outside. I loved them, but can't find them anywhere in Iowa.

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  2. I love the red candy ones, too! Those were a huge treat as kids. I saw them in our grocery store here recently. They're not all that hard to make--there are directions on-line. It's mostly sugar and red food coloring!

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  3. Love that tip about removing the wax. Never heard that before. Caramel apples are such a treat! I'm coming to your house when I go trick or treating!

    ~ Krista

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