Candy Apples
- Total Time
- About 30 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4medium apples (about 1½ pounds total), such as Granny Smith, McIntosh or Honeycrisp, preferably organic (see note), washed and dried, at room temperature
- 4(8-inch) sturdy treat sticks
- 2cups/405 grams granulated sugar
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters light corn syrup
- 1vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped, or 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼teaspoon kosher salt
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Preparation
- Step 1
Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a piece of lightly greased parchment paper. Place the apples onto the prepared baking sheet, and press a treat stick firmly into the stem end, into the center of each apple.
- Step 2
In a medium pot, combine the sugar, corn syrup, ½ cup water, vanilla bean seeds (discard the pod) or extract, cinnamon and salt. Stir the mixture over medium heat until the mixture begins to bubble at the edges, about 5 minutes — once it begins to bubble, stop stirring.
- Step 3
Cook the mixture (without stirring) until it reads 300 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about another 10 to 15 minutes. Leave the syrup mixture in the pot, and cool to 275 degrees. (The mixture will cool quickly; if it cools too much, it can be reheated until fluid.)
- Step 4
Working quickly, dip ¾ of an apple into the sugar syrup, tilting the pot as needed to coat. Hold the apple over the sugar syrup, letting the excess drip off, then transfer to the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining apples, reheating the sugar syrup as necessary. Cool completely before serving.
- Many apples have a wax coating, which can make it difficult for the sugar syrup to adhere to the outside of the apple. Using organic apples helps prevent this issue.
Private Notes
Comments
We used to make these to give away for Halloween back in the 1960s, when there was less fear in the world. They were delicious!
Don’t discard the vanilla bean pod! You can use it to flavor sugar or infuse milk or cream.
My mother used to make these, but flavored them with cloves. They were fabulous!
After your last apple is coated, pour the remaining syrup in swirls onto a buttered plate or cookie sheet. And save the coated spoon to eat like a lollipop. You get extra candy!
To optimize the panache this recipe deserves, I added a shy 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper to the cinnamon.
Getting the sugar to temp takes longer, I'd say about 40-50 min.
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