The Best Caramel Apples
These deliciously sweet caramel apples are covered in an exquisite homemade caramel, then loaded with tasty toppings. They’re truly the best!
I shared my new favorite caramel recipe with you on Wednesday, and now it’s time to share what I made with it! These caramel apples are pretty much just perfection. I’ve only ever attempted caramel apples twice before, and both times they were a disaster. This time, though, I really wanted to do them right, so I did some internet research and learned some tricks to make them awesome!
I’m also trying really hard to be less “control freak mom” and more “fun mom” so I thought it would be fun to let the kids decorate their own caramel apples. I set out a bunch of possible toppings and let the girls pretty much just go nuts. They had a blast! It was a really fun activity for the whole family, and the girls kept looking at me like, “Am I really allowed to do this, Mom?”
Abby chose white chocolate for her apple, then topped it with M&M’s, butterfingers, and Oreo cookies. Lizzy pretty much just went nuts with the sprinkles and then decided she was done. 🙂
If you’d like to make your own, here are some of the tricks I learned:
– Make sure your apples are cold. Chilling the apples beforehand will help the caramel stick to the apples instead of sliding off.
– Let the caramel cool on the apples before adding chocolate and decorating. It makes them a lot easier to work with!
– Make your own caramel! It tastes so much better… yum!
– Spread the chocolate on the outside of the apple using a knife or an offset spatula instead of dipping. It makes it a lot easier to get even coverage and prevent a big puddle at the bottom at the bottom of the apple.
This is definitely the way we’ll make them from now on!
The Best Caramel Apples
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 small to medium size green apples
- 12 popsicle sticks or caramel apple sticks
- 1 recipe homemade caramel or 2 bags of store bought caramels, prepared according to the package directions
- Wax paper or parchment paper for cooling
For topping:
- Chocolate for melting I used white chocolate and semi-sweet chips
- Chopped/crushed candy bars and cookies and/or cinnamon sugar
Instructions
- Prepare the apples by scrubbing them clean and drying well. Insert a stick into each apple and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Refrigerate at least one hour. Make the caramel according to the directions and let cool 5-10 minutes. Dip each apple into the caramel, turing the apple around to coat all side. Let the excess caramel drip off the apple, and scrape a knife across the bottom of each apple to remove the excess. Place the apples back on the baking sheet and let cool to room temperature.
- To melt the chocolate, add the chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl with 1/2 teaspoon shortening or coconut oil. Microwave at 50% power for 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. To decorate, use a knife or offset spatula to spread chocolate around the outside of the apple, leaving a small amount of caramel showing at the top. Sprinkle with desired toppings. (My very favorite is the cinnamon sugar + white chocolate combination!) Let cool completely.
- My favorite way to serve them is to remove the stick and slice the apple into quarters, then cut out the core. I then cut each quarter in half to form eight apple pieces that are covered with the perfect amount of chocolate and caramel. Yum!
