Homemade Candied Apples

No matter how easy a recipe for candied apples claims to be, I will be honest with you- they are a little bit hard to make in my opinion. I guess that's because I seriously lack the kind of patience it takes to stand at a pot for such a long time. Nevertheless they are a fun fall treat and I will probably keep making them even though they are a pain. Here is my recipe:

You will need:
6 Gala apples
6 popsicle sticks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons red food coloring

Add the sugar, corn syrup, and water to a heavy saucepan (like stainless steel) and bring it to a boil over medium heat (I use the setting 4 on my stove dial). You must continually stir this until it begins to boil.

Tip: use a stainless steel whisk to stir this with so that when you are finished all you have to do is dip it into boiling water and all of the hardened candy will just dissolve right off.

Once it has begun to boil, put the tip of a candy thermometer into the sugar mixture. Be sure the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan. You want to boil this until the candy thermometer reads 285 degrees or soft crack. Don't make the mistake of walking away from this. Although you don't need to keep stirring, it does need to be monitored. This will take a while. In my experience, about 30-45 minutes depending on the depth of your saucepan. 

While you're waiting on the mixture to to achieve the correct temp, prepare your apples. Be sure and remove all stems and take off all stickers from the grocery store. Stick popsicle sticks into the center of the apples about halfway down. 

Also prepare a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil which has been greased.
When your sugar mixture reaches 285 degrees, add the cinnamon and red food coloring.

Now begin working quickly to coat the apples. Roll each apple in the mixture and then allow them to drip over the pan until the excess mixture has dripped off. Put each apple on to your greased aluminum foil lined cookie sheet.  If you want to add any nuts or sprinkles now is the time to do it. 

This recipe is easy to double, but be aware that you will have to work very quickly so that the mixture will not cool off while you are still rolling the apples. You can leave the heat on under the apples while you do the first few, but it is not advisable to leave it on the whole time because the candy could burn. Room temperature apples work best.

Tip: For easy cleanup, simply boil water in the pan you used to make the candy, and use a toothbrush to brush away any excess hardened candy as the water begins to boil. I personally have never had a toothbrush melt as I was doing this, but I cannot assure you that this would not happen! o_O

Warning: if you have dental work you are going to want to be very careful when you eat these! They do get pretty hard! Just be very careful.