Today on The Stay At Home Chef
I'm showing you the Ultimate Guide to Making Caramel Apples.
I love caramel apples.
They bring me back to my childhood favorite memories of going to the fair and chomping down on that apple on a stick.
This doesn't necessarily count for a caramel apple, but I have memories of this too ripping out my tooth.
Being that this is the ultimate guide,
I'm gonna walk you through every step.
Everything from the very best apples to use,
the best sticks to use,
and 3 caramel options, including the world's best homemade caramel recipe.
I'm gonna go over all the toppings that are gonna take that apple to the next level.
To start let's talk apples.
The most common for caramel apples is the green Granny Smith.
This apple is crisp and tart and the perfect combination for that sweet and chewy caramel.
But hey, some of us like to play by our own rules.
So if you want to try a different type of apple, I recommend a honey crisp.
I love the honey crisp because they're extra sweet and juicy.
Or another option is a fuji, which has a nice mild flavor.
No matter what apple you do choose, you're going to want to follow these next 3 things:
First you want your apples to be small to medium in size.
If you go too big then you're going to have more apple to topping.
No one wants that.
Second: you're going to want to pick one out that has no bruises or soft spots or holes like this one.
So basically you want to pluck those apples right off the shelf, so that they're as fresh as possible.
And third: you want your apples to be nice and round.
You just really need that good even shape.
Now the shape's not going to make it taste any different, but it will make them look better,
and the saying that we eat with our eyes first, it's true.
Then make sure you wash those apples in warm water to get all of that extra wax off.
This will help that caramel stick to the apple even better.
Then pat each apple dry.
If you don't want to use whole apples, you can always dip apple slices or wedges.
Soaking them in a bowl with cold water and lemon juice will help them from going brown,
so that that delicious caramel won't be stuck to a nasty apple.
Next up let's talk about the apple sticks or skewers or whatever you want to call them.
This is really up to you what you want to use,
but personally I like to use the thick round wooden skewers.
They're heavy duty and they hold the apple great.
You could also use popsicle sticks,
but I find them to be a little too short and kind of hard to press in.
There are lots of other options out there, but use what you can get your hands on.
To skewer your apple first pluck off that stem,
and starting where that stem was, I'm gonna push that skewer about 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through,
Just make sure that's really sturdy.
Let's set all of these apples aside and start on the star of the show: our caramel.
Today I'm going to show you 3 caramel options.
First up is the made-to melt-caramel bits and the Peter's caramel loaf.
Second, how to make a dip-able caramel using the square caramel candies that I remember unwrapping as a child.
And third, I'm going to show you how to make the very best homemade caramel recipe.
And lastly, please don't use those creepy pre-made wraps that you can just get from the store.
If you are going to melt a caramel that has that package instructions,
it's really just as easy as adding them to a pot over medium-low heat,
and heating that up until it hits 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit.
Every store-bought caramel is different, so make sure you follow the instructions on the package.
Now if you're going old-school and unwrapping all those caramels by hand,
you're going to want to take about 50 of those cubes and place them in a saucepan over low-medium heat.
Add to that about 1/8 cup of water or milk.
Stir this all together for about 10 minutes.
What we want is for that to reach about 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit, then you can start dipping those apples.
And lastly, if you've got a kitchen thermometer, you're going to want to make our best ever caramel recipe.
it's going to take those caramel apples to the next level.
To start we're going to melt 1 cup of unsalted butter over medium heat.
To that pan we're going to add in 1 can or 14 ounces of sweetened condensed milk,
and 1 cup of corn syrup,
2 cups of brown sugar, and no you can't use honey or maple syrup as a substitute,
and there's just really no substitute for liking and subscribing,
and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
Use a whisk or rubber spatula and stir this constantly until it comes to a simmer.
Make sure to scrape the sides and the bottom so that that doesn't burn.
Then once it reaches that simmer you're going to stir that constantly until it reaches the softball stage which is about 235 degrees,
and remove that caramel from the stove.
We're going to let our caramel cool down into the range of 160-180 degrees Fahrenheit,
which is the perfect temperature for dipping those caramel apples.
now there's a science to dipping those apples, and let's go over that.
Your caramel needs to stay a consistent temperature.
If it's too hot it's just going to slide right off that apple.
If it's too cold it's going to make it way too thick, making that really hard to work with.
So here's a trick for both homemade and store-bought caramel:
once that caramel has been heated we're going to pour it into a crock pot.
It's going to help us keep that caramel at that perfect temperature of 160 degrees to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
We're gonna put our crock pot on low setting.
Once your caramel's at that perfect temperature it's time to get dipping.
To start we need to get a cookie sheet and line that with some parchment paper.
Gently press that apple into the caramel,
use a spoon or spatula to wipe off any excess drips,
next flip that caramel apple upside down while that caramel continues to set for about 15 seconds.
If it's still a little shiny it's not quite ready to set down.
You want more of the matte look to that.
Then place that dipped apple on a parchment lined cookie sheet,
and if you follow these instructions you're going to have a perfect apple,
versus one that could have that puddly ugly bottom.
And of course if you want to dip those apple wedges, it works just the same way.
Now as good as this does look, let's make it even better by adding on those toppings.
The toppings are endless, but some of the most popular ones are m&m's, Reece's Bits,
chopped nuts, Oreo crumbles, toffee bits and sprinkles, coconut flakes, and cinnamon sugar,
and of course lots of melted chocolate.
For the crumbly toppings like toffee, nuts, or coconut, you want to press those into it while the caramel's still warm.
You want that caramel to be warm and press that toppings into the caramel.
When it comes to chocolate dipping or chocolate decorating, you want that apple to be cooled completely,
and I really love double dipped apples.
so some fun specialties that you can make are an apple pie a la mode,
by dipping your caramel apple into white chocolate,
then generously sprinkle cinnamon sugar on it while the white chocolate is cooling.
Another fun flavor is candy bar,
where we have it dipped in milk chocolate and top that with your favorite crushed up candy bar,
and I am using snickers.
And a fun kid-friendly flavor would be a half and half dipped chocolate covered caramel apple,
with colorful sprinkles or m&m's, you do you and make that to your liking.
These are such a thoughtful gift and absolutely scrumptious.
Then you are ready to eat.
You can slice up that sucker, or try and bite it right off the stick.
Thanks for watching.
You can find the full written recipe in the video description below.
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We'll see you later.