In our household, every Monday night is dedicated to family night, which we love! This past Monday not only did we carve pumpkins but we also made caramel apples. This was especially fun because this was the first time we did this all by ourselves...Thanks for the recipe, Grandma!! I think this is now a new Halloween tradition for us. :)
✬ CARAMEL APPLES ✬
2 cups light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
2 cups C&H granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
12 oz sweetened condensed milk
pinch of baking soda
granny smith apples (we dipped 7 and had leftover caramel)
wooden sticks (I used 3/16'' dowels, cut in half)
Whisk ingredients in a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Using a candy thermometer, cook until 242 degrees, stirring constantly (this took me about 35 minutes to achieve this temperature--it takes a while, but is well worth it!). Allow caramel to cool to 200 degrees, place the wooden sticks in the apples, then dip away! Set dipped apples on wax paper to cool.
Pamela's notes: To decorate the caramel apples I melted a half cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave for about a minute and a half, stirring EVERY 30 SECONDS. Pour the melted chocolate in a ziplock bag and using scissors, snip a SMALL hole in one of the corners; drizzle the melted chocolate over the caramel apples. Sprinkle decorative sprinkles over the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to cool--we put ours in the fridge to speed this up, but even then, it took the chocolate along time to harden--I waited until the next day to wrap the leftover apples.
Now, if you and your family do not devour all the apples by your lonesome little selves, package a few to give away to friends! Here is a gift wrapping idea:
(Yes, the ribbon and dowels used were leftovers from the hair clip craft!)
I made the tag by stamping the jack-o-lantern onto brown paper, punched it out with a 1.5" puncher, and rubbing the edges on a black ink pad. The cellophane bags are available at Michael's or JoAnn's.
We were lucky enough to have some leftover caramel after we were done dipping our apples. I lined a small pan with tin foil, buttered it, poured the caramel into it, and allowed it to cool. After removing the caramel from the foil, I cut it into little pieces and wrapped them in plastic wrap:
This makes a great gift, too!
Yes, we had a fun night together.
I hope you can use this recipe and do the same with your family!
(Yes, friends, I agree with you--these jack-o-lanterns do look a tad bit scary. You can thank Aaron for that! lol)
xoxo,
Pamela
