Caramel Apples

Caramel Apples  = Fall                                                                                                                                                            

I went to an apple farm the other day and bought lots of Paula Red apples.  These apples are tart and crisp and perfect for pies and caramel apples.

Melt 1/2 C. of butter in a heavy pot.  Add 2 C. of light brown sugar, 1 C. of light corn syrup ( I used golden syrup from the UK ) and a dash of salt.  Bring this to a boil.

This recipe makes about 12 apples, I only made 6.  Plunge sticks in your apples. I usually go out and cut twigs to use but it was pouring rain so I used Popsicle sticks..how boring!

I had the bright idea to spray cupcake papers with cooking spray to place the apples in to contain the caramel....big mistake!  Do not do this!  Picture me scraping caramel off of them which took forever.  Total fail!

Once the sugar/butter mixture boils, add 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz.).

Cook this over medium heat until it reaches the 'firm ball stage' which is 248 degrees.  Stir it from time to time.  This takes a while. When it reaches 248 degrees, remove it from the heat and add 1 tsp. of vanilla extract.

Cupcake liner fail!  Just sit them on parchment paper after you dip them.

A blurry dip.  I dipped them each twice.

They looked cute but there was no way they were coming out of those papers easily.  I poured the extra caramel into a buttered container.  I'll show you below what I did with it.

Finished apples.

What's in the box?

Handmade and wrapped bite size caramels.

It took a long time to cut and wrap over 150 individual caramels.  Wrap them in wax paper. A big box is going to the shelter.  The others will be given to friends.

I ended up with about 8 boxes total.