Toffee apples are a common autumnal treat in the UK, as well as in the US, where they first originated from in 1908. They make great party favours for holidays such as Halloween and Guy Fawkes night, or for any carnival themed occasion.
With any recipe involving caramel or cooking sugar, I strongly suggest you invest in a sugar thermometer – this will make it a lot easier to tell when the caramel is ready, giving you a much more accurate indication. These thermometers are pretty inexpensive and easy to get hold of from anywhere that sells baking goods.
If planning to make these with young children I suggest you don’t let them near the hot caramel and maybe let them decorate the apples as they cool down – as most of you know, hot sugar is like the napalm of the culinary world, it melts itself to your skin and leaves a nasty burn that you will have for quite some time… but enough of the horror stories.
Sweet sweet scarring..
I have chosen to use the Granny Smith variety of apple for my recipe as they are firm and not too sweet, so it counters the sugar coating, but feel free to use whatever apples you like.
- Ingredients:
- 4 Granny Smith apples
- 200g Caster sugar
- 2 tbsp Golden syrup
- 50ml Water
- First you wipe your apples over with a damp, hot cloth to remove any wax on the outside of the fruit that would prevent the sugar from sticking.
- Push a skewer or lolly stick into the stalk end of each apple.
- Lay out a sheet of grease-proof paper on a tray near the stove.
- Put the sugar and water into a heavy bottomed pan and set over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then add the syrup and boil till it reaches 140C, the ‘hard crack stage’. (If you are doing this without a thermometer you can test for the hard crack stage by dropping some of the mix into a bowl of cold water: if it forms a hard lump it should be around the right temperature) As this boils, swirl the pan rather than stirring the caramel as this encourages it to crystallize. If you have a pastry brush, brush the sides of the pan with water occasionally to prevent there being a sugar build up which can cause the caramel to go grainy.
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Dip and twirl each apple into the hot mixture, letting the excess drip off, and set onto the grease-proof paper.
After the caramel has cooled slightly you can roll these in whatever you would like to decorate them with: chopped nuts, sweets. or chocolate… I prefer to keep mine as plain toffee.
These can be put out as party food or wrapped in cellophane bags and given as a gift – either way, these are a nice homemade confectionery that everyone with their own teeth can enjoy! Remember to store them in a cool, dry place, as placing them in the fridge will make the sugar go sludgy!
Ferny's Kitschen 