A HALLOWEEN TREAT, CARAMEL APPLES

As you all know, we went apple picking last weekend, and I now have more apples than i know what to do with. I almost had them at a manageable level after making the apple pumpkin bread. But then i visited Arti, who gave me another bagful of apples, cause she didn't know what to do with them. So there I was, stuck with another big bowl of apples, and out of ideas for recipes.

Luckily, I was once again watching Martha a couple of days ago (she's been so helpful of late), and there she was, making candied apples with Rosie O'Donnell. So, that was it, i decided to make caramel apples for my friend Akash's Halloween party. First, caramel is the easiest thing in the world to make and second, I'd use up a ton of apples to do it.

So I guess you could start with a recipe, but when i make caramel, I always eyeball it, as I was taught. (so Katie will probably never make this, since she always needs a recipe.) Here's what you need: sugar and water. (well, that's the base at least. And this will get you to a hard caramel). If you want a creamy caramel sauce, you'll also need a chunk of butter and some heavy cream.

Easy enough. Ok, to start, you need some sugar. Oh, about two cups, depending on how much caramel you want at the end and that goes into a pot. It's important to have a metal pot, where you can actually see to the bottom cause you'll want to be able to see the color of the sugar changing. Then you start adding water. How much? Until it feels like wet sand. Really, that's what my first chef told me and that's how I measure. Then, you wanna wash down the sides of the pot. Meaning you just get your hand (or pastry brush) a little wet and run it along the sides of the pot. (this will help to prevent crystallization)

Ok. Here's a pic. Now that goes on high heat on the stove. You can add in a little squeeze of lemon or a pinch of cream of tartar if you're really scared of crystallization. but really, it's never happened to me. ok, so here it is bubbling away. do not stir it, shake it, etc. because that will promote sugar crystals. just let it go.

Now, what you're looking for is for the sugar to start to darken in color. And this is when you really want to pay attention. You're looking for an amber color. Like below. When you get to this point, you wanna remove it from the heat.

now, remember that even though you're taking the pot off the heat, the pot itself is still hot, so the caramel will continue to darken. look at the difference below. it's only been maybe a minute after i've taken it off the heat and the caramel is noticeably darker. give it a few swirls to even out the color. then drop in a large square of butter. (i don't know, like 2 tablespoons). the caramel will start to bubble and you can stir the butter to help it melt in. Now be super carefuly. Sugar is damn hot. it's like the worse burn you can get in a kitchen. even worse than a grease burn. so watch your fingers.

after the bubbles die down, stir in the heavy cream (like a cup to a cup and a half). again, the caramel will bubble up, so beware of that. oh. also, use heavy cream. don't try to substitute with half and half. i did that and had to start all over again. it was just too watery. but at least i learned my lesson and can share my infinite wisdom with all of you.

all right, here's your final product. all ready for the apples.

And here are the apples. Wash, dried and with their sticks in place. I dipped the apple in the caramel, all the way up to the stem (like Martha said, apparently it helps the caramel from not slipping all the way off).

And here are the finished apples. Unfortunately, a lot of the caramel came off, despite my attempts to make sure all the excess had dripped off before setting them down. I think this has a lot to do with the consistency of the caramel. So if you allow the caramel to sit a room temp and stiffen a little, it seems to stay on much better.I kinda wish i had one of those to eat right now.

At any rate, off I went to my friend Akash's party, dressed as Smurfette and accompanied by my large plate of caramel apples. I hope that someone ate one, though i think most were overwhelmed by the offering of food already present at the party. However, at least I got to use up some of the apples, and have once again restored my apple supplies to a manageable level.