The delectable taste of caramel apples is enjoyed by one and all. They combine the great taste of caramel with the goodness of apples. Making caramel apples is very simple and hardly takes much time. Buying the caramel apples from market when you can prepare fresher, tastier and crispier caramel apples at home is least logical. You can add your personal touch by topping raisins, wafers, chocolate chips etc on caramel apples and please people with delicious caramel apples. Read on to learn how you can prepare caramel apples at home.
Complexity Level: Basic
Time Required: 20 minutes
Resources Required:
- Apples
- Wooden skewers or popsicle skewers
- Pot
- Baking sheet
- Aluminum foil
- Water
- Measuring cup
- Candy thermometer
Instructions:
1. Choose apples
To start making caramel apples firstly choose the right kind of apples. Your personal liking comes into consideration here.
- Choose fresh apples of your choice for preparing caramel apples. You can go for either tart or sweet apple depending on what you like and how you wish to amalgamate the flavors. Fuji, golden delicious, jonagold, lady, granny smith etc are a few of the recommended apples which are suitable for this recipe.
- Make sure you choose apples of smaller size for this recipe not only because they are easy to make but also because they are easy to eat and taste better with proper apple-caramel ratio.
2. Clean the apples and prepare them
- In order to coat the apples properly, it is very important that you clean them for any wax coating. Wax coating makes it difficult to coat apples. In order to remove the wax coating, you will have to simply dip the apples in boiling water and wipe away with a cloth. Keep the apples in the refrigerator to cool.
- Insert skewers inside the apples. This will help you in coating the apples without any discomfort.
3. Gather the equipment
Gather all the equipment you would need to prepare this delicacy. Double check the list of ingredients to avoid any last minute rush.
4. Making caramel
You will need to either prepare caramel or simply melt a few caramel candies in order to get caramel which you can use to coat your apples. Making the caramel at home can be a little time-taking but the end result is very delicious. You will need two containers of different sizes to start with making caramel. Fill the bigger pot with water in order to create a hot water bath.
- For making caramel, you will need brown sugar, butter, milk and vanilla extract.
- Add about 1 and a half cup of brown sugar with 6 tbsp of milk and 1 tbsp of butter; take these ingredients in a saucepan.
- Cook the ingredients over medium heat and keep on stirring the mixture to avoid burning.
- Use the candy thermometer to check the temperature. Stir the mixture till it reaches 236 degree F.
- Place this pan in the hot water bath to avoid crystal formation. Add some vanilla extract to the mix and stir.
5. Coat the apples
Now that the caramel is prepared, you can start with coating the apples. For coating, you will have to dip the apple in the hot caramel holding the skewers. Cover the apple entirely, use a spoon to coat the apple top. You will have to work quickly to prevent solidification of caramel. Place the apple on a greased tray to allow caramel to cool down. Keep the coated apples in the refrigerator to cool down.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What variations of caramel apple can be made at home?
There are plenty of variations of caramel apples. You can simply add an extra coat of dark or milk chocolate. Add toppings for an enhanced taste, use nuts, chocolate chips, wafers, dry fruits etc.
Quick Tips:
- Use apples of different colors i.e. red, green and yellow.
- In order to coat the apples properly, it is important that you do the dipping as quickly as possible.
Things To Watch Out For:
- Caramel apples are always best when eaten the same day they are made. However, you can also store them in refrigerator to make them last for maximum three days.
- Handle the hot caramel sauce with extreme caution.
