Homemade Caramel Apples

I would say that I tried out several different recipes in search of the perfect one, but actually this is the first one I tried and it turned out really good. These caramel apples were much easier to make than the candied apples that I made earlier this week. They are also, in my opinion, tastier and easier to eat. However, if you have any dental work you may want to reconsider! This recipe is rather easy to make and easy to clean up after following the easy tips that I will be including. I actually enjoyed making these!

Here is what you will need:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
 2 cups packed brown sugar
 1 cup light corn syrup
 Dash of salt
 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 popsicle sticks
8 medium apples, washed, dried, and destemmed

Destem all of the clean apples and make sure you get all the stickers off that come from the grocery store. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

So pretty much all you do here is combine all of the ingredients, except the apples and the sticks of course, and bring it to a boil over medium low heat. You'll want to use a heavy pan like stainless steel. This will need to be stirred constantly. 

Tip: If you use a stainless steel spoon to stir with, you can simply dip it into boiling water when you're finished and wipe it clean with no problem.

Using a candy thermometer, watch until the mixture comes up to 245 degrees which is softball. Make sure the thermometer does not touch the bottom of the pan. This will take about a half hour and yes you do need to stir it the whole time. As the caramel reaches the correct temperature, you will notice a change in the color. It will begin to get darker as you can see in this photo:

When the caramal is up to the correct temperature, work quickly dipping the apples and rolling them in the caramal. I don't turn the heat off until I'm almost done with only a few apples left to go. In my experience if you turn the heat off too soon the coolness of the apples will begin to cool down the caramal and you will not be able to get the last apples fully coated. Just be careful not to let the caramel burn. I used my stainless steel spoon to help coat the entire apple getting caremal up on the top part. If you want to dip these and nuts or sprinkles now is the time to do it.

When they are coated, set them on a tin foil lined baking sheet to cool. Mine turned out a little ugly. So when they were cool enough to handle, I smoothed them out with my hands covering the areas that lacked caramel and smoothing out any ugly places. (This is what you have to do with the store bought wraps anyway.)

Tip: For easy cleanup, simply boil water in the pan in which you cooked the caramel. As the water comes to a boil, grab a toothbrush and just scrub away all of the caramel as it begins to get soft. Then you just pour it out and your pan is all clean. Please note that my toothbrush has never melted in the hot water. I cannot guarantee that yours will not melt though! o_O

Now, since you have been really good and you have tried a recipe from Mel's Kitchen Adventures, you get a special treat! You get the privilege of eating any of the leftover caramel! If there's any left in the pan just lay it out onto the tin foil and let it sit for a little while. Don't let it cool off all the way just eat it as soon as it cool enough to eat. I have a guilty confession: I put a glob of leftover caramal into my cup of coffee! I then enjoyed a marvelous caramel latte! :-P