What does Fall mean to you?

Every September I get excited about one thing, caramel apples. I know that this is a very silly thing but my family and I every year pick fresh apples and at the orchard they have big beautiful apples covered in gorgeous colored caramel. They are delicious however, going up to the orchard every time that the desire for a caramel apple hit I don't think I would ever leave. My father tells me that I should get one from the grocery store but they are always tiny and sticky and well never really good. This Halloween we bought a caramel apple kit that was yummy but the melting of pre-made caramel was tedious, left the apples sticky and really hard to eat. As a family (okay I decided) that we needed our own caramel apple recipe.

Attempt one.

Ingredient

• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1cup of maple syrup (real syrup not maple favored syrup)
• 1/3 cup of light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 4 tbs of unsalted butter

Before doing anything get your apples ready. If they are store bought their is a good chance that they are covered with a wax coating. Their is an easy way to remove this wax. Simply boil some water. When you have a rolling boil dump your apple in for no more then 30 seconds; we don't want to cook the apple just remove the wax. When you remove it from the boiling water place the apples in cold water. Now that your apples are clean time to put in sticks. If you are not worried about the apples leaving the house I suggest using chop sticks they are slightly pointed and reusable which makes them perfect. However if you are taking them to a party to wow people with your mad cooking skills use Popsicle sticks.

Okay the next step is really simple but do not rush or your caramel will be grainy. Dump the sugar, cream and both the maple and corn syrup into a cold pan. Keep in mind that this mixture will double in size while heating so do not pick a pan that just fits the ingredients. Heat the ingredients on medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 250 degrees. You do not want to stir the mixture while it heating just swirl the pan itself a little if needed. Once the mixture reaches the magic number of 250 immediately remove from the heat and stir in the 4 tbs of butter. Your caramel is done and it cooling quick .



Dip your apples into the caramel. This will be a light coating of caramel you can repeat until the caramel is the thickness you want but less really is more when it comes to this rich caramel.

I loved the fact that this has maple syrup in the recipe but not a fan of the corn syrup. I think that on the next try we will be substituting honey for the corn syrup and we will let you know how it works. Also you need to place finished apples on parchment paper and let it sit for at least 12 hours. I don't know why but the apples we had a few hours after they were done were sticky but the next day they were perfect.