I try to avoid overly processed food in general, and I’m not a big fan of the types of candy associated with Halloween — small, packaged globs of “chocolate.” However, I do have a sweet tooth, so I recently decided to try and make candied apples out of ingredients that I already had in my cabinets. Apples are currently in season and available at just about any farmers’ market or CSA. Already a delicious treat, apples are great for caramelizing, dipping in peanut butter, and encasing in a candy shell, as I recently tried. When I made these candy apples, I dipped the whole apple. After doing so, I would recommend slicing the apple into pieces, then dipping (more below).
Ingredients:
6 apples, a tart apple works best, such as granny smith
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Popsicle sticks
Directions:
1. Line a baking pan (or a whatever you have available, like a cast iron skillet – seen here) with wax or parchment paper, anything non sticky. Set aside.
2. Wash the apples and remove the stems. Insert the sticks towards the top of the apples (I didn’t have popsicle sticks, so I used a few kabob sticks in each apple). Or, slice the apples into bite size pieces.
3. Mix sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan then place sauce pan on a low heat burner. Stir until all of the sugar is dissolved and then let cook for 35-45 minutes without stirring. If you have a candy thermometer, the sugary mix should be 275 degrees. If not, don’t fret, I didn’t and my apples still turned out delicious!
4. Once the sugary mix is at 275 degrees (or has cooked for 35-45 minutes), quickly stir in the vanilla. Dip each apple in (make sure they are dry, as moisture will prevent the mix from sticking) and roll it around till covered. If you have sliced the apples, then use the kabob sticks to dip each piece in and roll them around in the mix. Set on baking pan and let sit until hardened.
5. The candy coating on the apples is similar to a Jolly Rancher, so it’s too hard to bite directly into them. If you chose to coat the whole apple, I would recommend cutting them into bite-size pieces and then enjoying. Again, after a bit of trial and error, I would highly recommend slicing the apple first and then dipping each small piece into the mix. The bite-size candy pieces produced are great for sharing!
