Toffee Apples…..enough said!
I had this sudden urge to try these out and it was surprising easier than I thought….after trying and failing an internet recipe.
I saw a recipe that asked to dissolve sugar with water and then boil for something like 20 minutes…big failure.
So I threw it out and thought….surely it’s the same as making sugared nuts and the rest?!
So that’s what I did!
*please note, this was my first attempt*
I bought small apples (8 of them), I prefer them smaller because when the apples are too big you never finish them…..and you know you’re overloading on the toffee more than the apple.
So get them washed and stick in some skewers. Keep aside.
Prepare a surface or tray with wax paper or a silicon baking mat (I used this and it works like a charm)
Now in a heavy based pan, not too wide because you want a pot that’s deep enough so that there’s enough liquid in it once melted to coat the apple properly.
Add 2 cups of sugar to the pan and turn the heat up to medium.
Keep an eye on the sugar and let it melt. Keep stirring. You can add 1/4 cup of water to help the sugar to dissolve if you like. The water will boil out but keep an eye on it.
Add 10 drops of red colouring and a capful of any flavouring you like. – the flavouring is optional because it’s very subtle in the sugar.
Don’t worry too much about leaving it or fiddling with it, just stick your wooden spoon in there and mix and stir and mix and stir.
You do NOT want to let it burn because you will need to start again.
At some point it will look like this…..
do NOT panic!
Keep going and it will eventually look like this
Add 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (I don’t know why, it just works…trust me)
Now it’s very very very important to look out for when the sugar is very smooth….but it MUST not burn! if it burns, the flavour will be awful (it happened to me once) so if you are worried that it might burn and since the pan is heavy based you will not be able to cool it down fast enough…..keep a bowl/tray of ice-cold water nearby into which the bottom of the pan can fit into. It will cool it immediately and ensure that it doesn’t burn (please note, this takes practice, you HAVE to keep a keen eye on the pot/pan).
Do not leave the pan immersed in the cold water for too long as the sugar will harden and then you won’t be able to coat the apple.
Dip the apples into the syrup and make sure that you try to coat all over especially the top where the skewer enters the apple.
Put it straight onto the silicon baking sheet and let it cool completely.
You must cover your apple with cellophane to ensure that it remains crispy and tasty. Otherwise the sugar will soften too much and slide off.
Best eaten after it’s been cooled in the fridge for some time!
Try different colours too! I did a bubblegum blue one that turned out a little more black than blue. But it’s been fun!
My next time, I’m going to try it without the flavourings and colours added beforehand. I’m going to seperate the syrup once done and add the colours last so that I can possibly do 2 colours.
Good luck!!
~ Fehmz ~