Blog » Crispity Crunchity Candy Apples

 

Today we turn our attention to candy apples.  When was the last time you had one of these?  Probably at some county fair, where it was $3 and full of smooshy apple.  Ick.   I was never a fan, until I made my own three weeks ago, and YOWZA.  

Candied apples are super easy to make.  Here's what you need:

• Apples.  We had cause to be near Poverty Lane Orchards last week, so we stopped and picked some apples.  They have Macs and Pippins there, but we went straight for the heirloom orchard -- just shy of 200 trees, growing at least 50 different varieties.  The apple varieties all have different purposes (fresh cider, hard cider, baking, eating, etc), and they gave us a tree list and encouraged us to sample every tree.  So we did.  Many apples were bitten.  Some were savored, some were spit out; such is life in the heirloom apple orchard.  For the candied apples, we went for tart-crisp varieties.

  For the sticks, you can use popsicle sticks or whatever you have hanging around.  We used some unused take-out chopsticks (broken in half).  Spear your apples right in the middle, then give them a little shake to make sure they're not going to fall off the stick.

• 1 cup sugar
  1/3 cup water
  1 glug corn syrup
  1 cinnamon stick
  This will make enough for 6 medium-sized apples.  I realize that you certainly don't need any more corn syrup in your life, but a little glug (a tablespoon or so) will help keep your sugar from crystallizing while it's boiling.  If you don't have any (or don't want to use it), you can leave it out.  The cinnamon stick adds a nice flavor to the syrup (anise seed is also tasty).
• 1/4 tsp cherry flavor
  5 drops red food coloring
  You can use any flavoring you want -- we used this tasty cherry stuff from King Arthur (incidentally, only 20 minutes from the orchard!).   You can also use any color you want, too.  (Orange apples for halloween!)

The next step is to boil the syrup.   There's nothing to it -- just stick the pot on the stove and let it go.  Don't stir it (except to make sure that all the sugar dissolves), and boil it until it reaches 300F on a candy thermometer.  Be careful -- as one recipe says, "Do not touch the syrup at any time -- it burns treacherously."  If you don't have a thermometer, then drop a little bit of syrup into a glass of water.  If the syrup turns into a little bit of hard lollipop, it's ready!  

Stir in the flavoring and color, then go over to your apple-twirling station.

 

Tilt the pan so that all the syrup pools at one end, then grab an apple and twirl it in the syrup.  It should pick up a nice even coat of candy.  Put it down on parchment or foil (not wax paper -- it'll melt) and go to the next one.  (If you're doing lots of apples (like a double batch), I gather that you're supposed to stick the pot over some boiling water to keep the candy from hardening too quickly. )

Ta-da!  Candy apples!  Delicious, and really healthy, too!  (What?  You're eating an apple...)  Once they're cool, wrap them so the candy doesn't get sticky.  You can store them in the fridge, but they're best eaten at room temperature.