I’ve made caramel apples quite a bit in the last few years, even hosted a caramel apple party or two. But my plan to bring you gorgeous photos and a foolproof, from-scratch recipe failed in a big way.
First of all, do you know how long it takes to make caramel? I’ve only ever made caramel apples using the individually wrapped candies before, which is super easy. I started stirring the caramel at 10am thinking the recipe sounded simple enough. By 11am, I was still stirring, neither me nor the kids were dressed, and t-ball started in thirty minutes.
Then after ALL that stirring, we returned from t-ball to our lovely caramel apples only to find that I had apparently cooked the caramel a couple of minutes too long, because the caramel was hard as a rock! Would you guess it from the looks of this picture?
So instead, I’m running with a few tips to making caramel apples that actually turn out:
- Don’t bother making caramel from scratch, at least not until your kids are grown. Toddlers are not big fans of having their mothers glued to the stovetop for an hour or more!
- Also, caramel apple slices (like you can see in the background of the picture) don’t really work, because the caramel only sticks to the skin. (Pinterest fail.)
- From previous experience, crushed graham crackers with a dash of pumpkin pie spice stirred in makes a wonderful topping! Turns a basic caramel apple into caramel apple pie.
- If you blend up (in a blender or food processor) some milk chocolate chips to roll your caramel apple in, they will melt slightly and taste wonderful. Still cute, but much easier than melting and piping chocolate (which, as you can tell from the picture, I am never meticulous enough to get right!).
- Raw sugar is another fun topping that gives your apple a tiny bit of crunch, along with some sparkle.
Have you had better luck than me? What tips do you have for us??
Love that you shared your fails! Looks like something that would go down at my house. 🙂 I’m sure mine will turn out even worse, but I’m still tempted to try making these now. Fun activity for when Kennedy is home!
Exactly, Courtenay! The boys LOVED making them. It’s the perfect activity with kids. Edible is just a perk. haha
I just made caramel with this recipe on Friday: http://www.food.com/recipe/kittencals-caramel-apples-73274
It worked great, but the boys were playing in the other room with my sister-in-law while I stirred at the stove. I didn’t have a thermometer so I used the ol’ cold water trick to judge when it was done and it worked great! They weren’t too hard, though I think I would have liked them softer.
But as I was stirring and stirring and stirring and stirring, I was definitely thinking: when little kids are involved, and they don’t care, so why not just do the wrapped caramels? I totally agree with you. We’ll probably take the easier, quicker method next time.
Caramel apples are definitely not as easy to make as one might think. My sons last birthday was circus themed and we served caramel apples. I kid you not, we unwrapped over 300 of those individually wrapped caramels. Promised myself: never again! LOL. I do want to make them for us at home, though. Thankfully it won’t require as many caramels to unwrap!
Amen on not making caramel from scratch! I use these quick caramels from Walmart and it takes 5 minutes in the oven and they turn out so delicious!! Bless you, friend!
Oooh, we haven’t really incorporated this tradition into our family yet and I think this is the year to start. These look so yummy!
I’m am totally bummed about the apple slices. When I saw those on pinterest I was so excited for that alternative. Thanks for trying it out first and telling the rest of us! 😉
LOVE this! Thanks for posting. I was going to ask what kind of carmel you use, but by the looks of the commets I guess just store bought? And then you heat it up on the stove? I’m so not good in the kitchen! But this looks fun!
I once threw away an entire pan – literally, the pan – of rock hard homemade caramel gone wrong. My grandmother has the best recipe, but I’ve destroyed it so many times, I’m afraid to try again. Love the graham cracker/pie spice idea!