Caramel Apples

Today I finished the caramel apples I made for Croptoberfest. They are a fun little treat that I like to make for my cropping friends.

Here's what you need to make them. Seriously, they are easy to make because they are basically sugar and butter. You can't go wrong with those ingredients.

Oh, and you need some of these. They are 3/8" dowels and you can find them at your craft store.

Start by cutting each dowel into four 1" pieces. Peanut Head wasn't here to help me with these, but he assured me that I could easily do the job with a simple craft knife.

Ha! He's such a funny guy. Well, I did cut them with the craft knife, but it wasn't so easy. My advice to you is to get someone with humongo wrists (like that pesky Peanut Head), or find an orangutan to help you.

I managed, but I was a little grouchy afterwards and banished my monsters to the basement so I wouldn't bite them.

I like to use Granny Smith apples because they're pretty. And crunchy. And usually huge. Although this year, not so much.

Peel all the stickers off the apples and pull their little stems off. I find it's easiest to use a pair of needle-nose pliers to really grip the little suckers and yank them off.

Forcefully jam the dowel pieces into the apple stem area. Try not to go all the way through the other side of the apple.

Doesn't this look disgusting? Well, except for the butter part. This is all the ingredients for the caramel. You just dump it all together to start. Now that's my kind of recipe.

Then when it really gets going and hot, it starts to look like this. I had a heck of a time taking this picture while the caramel Vesuvius was bubbling and spitting at me. I have boo boos.

The first time I made these, this step scared the crap out of me. The caramel rises like it's going to creep out of the pan and attack you.

And it bubbles and spits.

Use a reeeee-ally long wooden spoon to stir.

Here's what it looks like when it cools down. Isn't it pretty?

It looks like someone has been taste testing. I'm going to have a talk with those little monsters.

You'll need a candy thermometer. This is a standard candy thermometer. It will work just fine and is relatively inexpensive if you don't already have one.

This is the super duper fancy candy thermometer I treated myself to. I've used it a lot, so I don't feel one bit guilty for the indulgence.

Here's what the apples look like after dipping.

Ah ha! I caught those little monsters red-handed.

Oh, how embarrassing. Would you look at that hair!

It was Crazy Hair Day at school today.

There's always extra caramel that you can't possibly dip an apple into, so you simply cannot let it go to waste.

We made ourselves sick.

I like to put little pretties on my apples.

I also like to stick the apples in cupcake liners to cover up the unsightly bits at the bottom of the apples. Plus, it makes it easier to slide the apples into their little plastic bags.

Like this. And you must have pretty ribbon to attach. Or no one will eat them.

Yummy.

Here's a recipe card for you. Enjoy!