Old-fashioned Candy Apples

Nothing beats good old-fashioned candy apples at the fair or a trip to an apple orchard. The crisp bite into the apple that cracks with a sweeet cinnamon candy and the fresh apple underneath is so nostalgic to my childhood.

recently my family and I decided to visit a local orchard and picked a bunch of apples and enjoyed the hay rides. My son spotted the candy apples and begged for one. I saw they wanted $6 for just one apple and decided instead it would be a fun project we could do together at home.

We purchased our freshly picked apples and headed home to make some of the most delicious candy apples I have ever tasted and I am so excited to share with you the recipe that will soon become a fall tradition in our home.

Ingredients you will need to make old-fashioned candy apples at home.

• Apples- use apples you like, everyone has a recommended apple they use for these typed of recipes. If you don’t like those brad of apples however you will not enjoy the end result. Try to use fresh crisp apples and stay away from the softer varieties.
• Granulated sugar
• Water
• Light corn syrup- makes the coating nice and shinny
• Cinnamon sticks – you can also use 1/4 tsp of cinnamon extract
• Salt
• Red gel food colouring – or 1/4 tsp of liquid food colouring
• Baking soda- softens the candy so you don’t break your teeth

How to make Candy Apples

1. Prepare the apples and station

choose the apples you would like to use, and clean them well. If you have purchased your apples from the grocery store they may have a wax coating. You can remove that with boiling water. either place the apples in a pot of boiling water for just a few seconds and wipe them clean or run them under very hot water and wipe them dry. Stick the popsicle stick into the top of each one then put them in the fridge to chill while making the candy coating.

line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside

2. mix the ingredients

in a medium pout add the water, sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon sticks, salt and food colouring.

3. Stir

stir over medium to high heat until all the sugar has dissolved. stop stirring once the mixture begins to boil

4. Simmer

add the candy thermometer to your pot and allow the mixture to continue to cook without disturbing it until the mixture reaches 280℉. if you find the edges of your pot are beginning to form crystals you can brush them off with a wet pastry brush. Be careful not to touch the candy with the brush.

5. Remove the sticks

carefully remove the cinnamon sticks. Yes, I am using careful a lot in this post as we are working with hot boiling sugar and it can be very dangerous if not treated with respect.

6. Prepare the candy for dipping

remove the apples from the fridge and the pot off the heat

add the baking soda and stir slowly

7. Dip the Old-fashioned Candy Apples

working quickly tip the pot of cany to the side slowly to make a deeper pool of liquid then using a rolling motion coat the outside of the apple in a thin layer of candy.

shake the excess off the apple place it on the lined baking tray and allow the candy to set up.

working quickly but carefully dip the remaining apples and set them on the baking tray with enough space that they do not touch.

allow the apples to set up and enjoy your Old-fashioned Candy Apples

Tip

once you find the candy is beginning to thicken up and is creating a thick layer you need to stop dipping your apples. You will end up with apples that have candy that could harm your teeth and be hard to break.

if you don’t want to waste the rest of the candy you can add dollops of the candy to a separate baking sheet with parchment paper and make small sucking candies or even add a stick to make some lollys.