In pursuit of a simple, fabulous, imperfect life at home.

{SavourTheSeason} Day 10: Candy and Caramel Apple Slices

Note from Kelly: This is a guest post by my friend Heidi from It's Our Pinteresting Life, where she and 2 of her sisters share their favourite recipes, crafty exploits, and DIY adventures.  Please swing by their blog and leave a comment over there to let these creative ladies know they are doing a great job!  Thanks!



When I was a child, I loved the time of year when my mom made candy apples. Seeing the bright shiny candy coating surrounding the apple was so exciting. They looked so pretty!  I could hardly wait to bite into one. When I got past the yummy candy and I was left with the apple, I was left with the biggest apple ever to eat.  I didn’t really want the apple, I just wanted the candy part. Does anybody else know what I’m talking about? 

This past weekend, we went apple picking at one of our local orchards. Besides making apple sauce, apple crisp and just eating them, I also wanted to try my hand at making candy apples. Not just regular candy apples though, candy apple slices. Bite sized pieces of goodness. No more boring apple to get through! 


 I decided to make both caramel apples and candy apples.

After washing the apples, I cut them up into small chunks. I broke in half the white candy sticks that you can buy at any bulk foods store and stuck them into the top of the apple slices.


Making Candy Apples
You will need:
5 apples (I used Empire), washed, cored, and sliced into big chunks
Candy sticks
2 cups white sugar
1cup light corn syrup
1 ½ cups water
red food colouring


Before you put your newly dipped candy apples onto a cookie sheet or wax paper, you will want to grease them first. Believe me. I have learned from experience. 

In a heavy bottomed pot, heat the sugar, corn syrup and water on medium-high heat. Place your candy thermometer into the pot, but make sure that it doesn’t touch the bottom or else it might crack. 

Heat to 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C), or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, you will know that it’s done when you drop a small drop of syrup into cold water and it hardens. This part took about 20 minutes. 

Remove from heat and stir in about eight drops of red food colouring. 



Then comes the fun part of dipping your slices into the syrup, making sure the slices are evenly covered and place on your greased surface to harden. 


Now to the Caramel Apples!  
These do have more ingredients, but I found that they were easier (meaning faster) to make.

You will need:
5-6 apples (again, I used Empire), washed, cored, and sliced into big chunks
Candy sticks
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup butter
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup corn syrup
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
If you decide to make them a little fancier: toasted almonds or pecans, bittersweet chocolate, or any other toppings that you choose. 


Again, grease the cookie sheet or wax paper so your apples don’t stick to the surface as they harden. 

Grab your heavy bottomed saucepan again and stir together sugars, butter, condensed milk, corn syrup and salt. While stirring constantly to keep the caramel from burning, bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and keep stirring until the mixture thickens to a deep caramel colour or until your candy thermometer reads 234-236 degrees F (112-113 degrees C). Remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Let it cool for 5 minutes, while you chop up the nuts. 


 Dip the apple slices into the caramel and let the extra caramel drip back into the saucepan. Sprinkle the nuts on top, on the sides or on the bottom. I liked the look of sprinkled on top. 


Resist the urge to eat them right away, and put them in the fridge for 15 minutes for the caramel to set.
If you want, you can then drizzle the slices with melted chocolate. Again, you do have to put them back into the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. Believe me. It will be worth it when you bite into one of these little apples. 


I love that you don’t have to commit to a full apple, which can be overwhelming for young ones. Have a small slice and you are set to go (and then have a few more!).

(Candy apple recipe adapted from allrecipes.com, Caramel apple recipe adapted from Canadian Living. Don't forget to check out Heidi's blog and say "hi"!)

[This is day 10 in a 31 day series about celebrating autumn. Click here for more fall inspiration!]

35 comments

  1. Thank you for this inspiring recept. Where I live are many, many apple orchards but most of the apples are intended for export. Dutch do not do much with apples. But with you recpt I can do something nice for the kids, thank you. It's fun

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    1. I'm glad you like the recipe! I'm have some Dutch in my background and I love eating apples in oliebollen :)

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  2. What a great idea to make SLICES!
    Ieva

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    1. do you need to soak the apples in anything so they don't go brown???

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    2. You could try a little bit of lemon juice before hand

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  3. Definitely doing this with the kiddos! I always hate that the candy goodness goes quickly and you're left with a boring apple to eat :)

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    1. I know right? And it always seemed like the apple seemed bigger once the candy coating was gone! Enjoy!

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  4. This is the perfect Sunday afternoon recipe! Hubs and I have been thinking about going apple picking. Maybe we'll give this a try after a hike through the orchard :)

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    1. They taste so good with the fresh apples. Maybe even better because we picked them ourselves. :)

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  5. Apple slices are such a great idea. I am always intimidated by the huge apple on a stick.

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    1. Exactly! A few yummy slices and you're done!

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  6. YUM! Thanks for sharing! I love caramel apples, but find them hard to eat and then get disappointed with the apple afterwards. Love this!

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  7. I actually never liked candy apples because they were too big, and I have sensitive teeth. I saw a Pin going around on Pinterest that big circular slices, but I absolutely like this idea better. I also like it because my kiddos will be more likely to eat the entire piece of apple, versus just the candied parts. Great idea! They look delicious.

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    1. I saw the same pin actually, which got me thinking about the slices! Hopefully you can try it!

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  8. i just couldnt wait and made the candy apples tonight already!!

    they taste and look great and having NEVER made candy before was surprisingly easy!

    one thing though, i feel my candy is just too hard, how can i make it slightly less hard? maybe heat to say 290?

    thanks!

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    Replies
    1. I'm so glad that you tried it! About the candy being too hard, I did a bit of research and it looks like some recipes recommend heating up the candy to 250 degrees F. I can't say that I had that problem, but try it at 250 degrees F and see how it goes! Hope that helps :)

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  9. How long do you think the apples will stay fresh in the fridge once made? This is such a great idea!

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    1. Rebecca, if they are in the fridge, they will probably last for 1 1/2 to 2 weeks..if they don't get eaten first!

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  10. I love this idea. I always thought it was so hard to bite into a big sticky apple. It always made such a mess. My daughter is having a party soon. I think this would make a great little party snack.

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    1. Heather, what a good idea! They would make great snacks at a child's birthday party!

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  11. I'm not a big caramel person and these even look over-the-top scrumptious to me!!!

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  12. ive made these before with slices but always find the candy melts off by the next day due to the moisture of the apple, although the bit of apple with skin still on the candy is still there? has this happened to you?

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    1. This has happened to me! I think because I covered them with a glass dome and didnt put them in the fridge.

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  13. Would the slices turn brown over time or does the candy coating protect them? I might want to take this to thanksgiving dinner, but I would need to prep it the day before.

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    Replies
    1. They do get a little brown, but you could try tossing them in a little lemon juice before dipping them in the candy

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  14. I tried something like this but I cheated and used the caramel squares. After I put the caramel on the apple and put it in the fridge it got so hard. I couldnt even cut it...do you know what I did wrong. I am nervous about trying again.

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    1. I haven't done it with the caramel squares, but with them being in the fridge, they probably just got too cold, which made them get really hard. Try it with this recipe and see what you think!

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  15. I am thinking of doing this for a wedding favor, could I prepare these a week before the wedding and they still look and taste great?

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    1. I would prepare them closer to the date. They might get too brown. What a good idea though!

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  16. Loved the recipe...any tips for making the candy not cook the apples slices??? They looked beautifu at first and as they set up they became watery and now the coating seems to have broken :(

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    1. I'm glad you liked it! An idea would be to put the apple slices into the fridge before dipping them so they are cool and hopefully the coating will stick

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  17. The small candy red hot would be good in this melted down with the sugar for the candy apple slices. I've done in the past with my candy apples.

    I love adding a touch of cinnamon to my caramel apples some times.

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