A very dear friend of mine asked if I would entertain the idea of making caramel apples with her! I had never made them before…but I am ALWAYS up for a food challenge, so of course I obliged! It may have helped that I absolutely LOVE caramel apples and I was up for some fellowship 🙂 We had a wonderful time together and made some pretty amazing apples! Here is our story….
(We multiplied the recipe for a bake sale, I am giving you a recipe for 6 apples- you may multiply as desired)
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Granny Smith Apples, Sugar, White Corn Syrup, Sweetened and Condensed Milk, Salt, Butter, Vanilla, Parchment paper (Skewers- I purchased nice ones at Jo-Ann Fabrics) |
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| Wash your apples thoroughly…get as much wax off as possible. |
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| The making of the caramel sauce: In a heavy saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, milk, and salt mixing well. |
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keep mixing…the color changes, like so. |
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| And here we have caramel! Who would have thunk it was so easy?! |
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Here is the fun part…set up your “apple dressing buffet” We had nuts, crushed Butterfinger, white choc chips, mini M&Ms, melted chocolates, Heath, and marshmallows. (I would suggest to pick no more than 3 to start off with) |
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| Lay parchment paper down and butter |
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After the caramel cools for about 5 mins….stick your apple at the top end and start dipping and rolling in your toppings…. (This is Butterfinger) |
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| This one was splashed with chocolate and dipped in Heath..(YUM) |
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| My kidos favorite…the mini M&M monstrosity! |
Beautiful! I just love the sweet and savory flavors of a caramel apple…and the fiber, ahh yessss….apples have fiber. This is a healthy recipe right? (hehe)
| Gourmet Caramel Apples (at home) |
- 6 wooden skewers
- 6 Medium Granny Smith (green apples)
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup white corn syrup
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- desired toppings & parchment paper
- In heavy saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, milk and salt mixing well.
- Cook over medium heat stirring gently but constantly until soft ball stage (if you are using a thermometer it will be about 230 degrees- but I go by color).
- This will take you about 30 mins.
- Remove from heat and cool for about 5 mins and stir in butter and vanilla.
- Cool again about 5 mins- you then may begin coating caramel over apples to cover fully…then dip in your desired topping.
- Place on buttered parchment paper…when finished with all apples, transport to dish and cool in refrigerator for 2 hours before enjoying!
I did these over the weekend too but no fellowship! I coated the caramel apples with chocolate then applied the toppings. Variations are great!
Yum Yum!!
What a great idea to make these with adults…I made these with 16 preschoolers. We used sticks for skewers. I may just need to try these again!
Those look divine. I might need to make these even though I promised my husband no more messy recipes as he is the one who cleans up behind me 🙂
Those look way too good! I’m hoping I don’t succumb to the temptation – especially those rolled in crushed nuts. YUM YUM! 🙂
Oh My WORD! These look SOOOO yummy!!! Awesome!
Courtney
I was just at the grocery store and looked at the pre-made caramel apples and thought, “I wonder how I would make those.” It’s like you are in my head! LOL. Awesome! Can’t wait to try.
If you remember from last year and don’t mind, would you share approximately how much you charged for your apples at the bake sale?
I sure don’t remember, I am so sorry Deb! However- I would recommend selling them for $5. Caramel apples can cost a pretty penny to make- and gourmet ones are super expensive to purchase- don’t feel bad asking for more!
Important note! Don’t over cook the carmel or it turns hard as rock. I cooked mine for almost 25 minutes and thought it was getting a little dark…yep, I over cooked it. 🙁 I also don’t have a thermometer. So if you don’t have one either, stop when it’s still a light color.
Great tip!!! Thank you Amy!
We tried out your recipe for the first time this year. Love it! We’ll definitely be making them again.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Danielle!
Hi! I know this posting is old, but do u remember how many apples u made? I need to make about 40 and was wondering if I should multiply by 7 for all ingred, that seems like a lot?? I would really appreciate any help and tips. Thank you very much!!!!
Hi May, I would recommend multiplying the caramel recipe by 5, you should have plenty. I would actually put it in 2 pots so it doesn’t take forever to make a caramel- one pot may take a lot of time and stirring. Ohhh that caramel is SO good!!!!
This was such a helpful recipe for me! Thank you! We made a batch Monday, and they turned out great! So great that I wanted to share it with my family and friends and random blog readers, so I did—here:
http://charlottelaughs.blogspot.com/2013/10/today-is-free-caramel-apple-day.html
Thanks again!
Thank you!!!!
I tried this recipe to make for my baby shower favors. I like the taste but the color way alot darker than the picture. At first i thought i burned it but it tasted wonderful. Do you have any idea what i did to make the color darker?
Hi Mackenzie! You may have cooked it too long or you could have cooked on on a higher heat than needed. I’m glad it tasted good though!