Caramel apples

Much better than store-bought

When I was a child, I begged my mother to buy caramel apples every autumn, when the typical two-pack encased in plastic would appear like magic on store shelves. She simply told me they didn’t taste good and refused to purchase them. When I was a bit older, I used my babysitting money to buy a pack, and they were beyond awful. You couldn’t get a decent bite without your gums practically bleeding from the rock-hard, unripened apple.

A caramel apple was just the sort of treat my great-grandmother would make at home. She had her seasonal rotations, and the autumn months meant caramel apples, caramel corn balls, and an array of cakes and pies. Great-grandma ran circles around other adults half her age, and she let me hang around her apron strings and watch. She was bright and industrious, and always played and created with me. She’s in all my oldest and happiest memories, and when I make caramel apples for my family, it feels like she’s with me once again. One bite of the buttery caramel apple with salty peanuts takes me back to my great-grandma’s house and floods me with nostalgia for my Midwestern childhood.

This treat is pure Americana and fun to make with children — it’s like a cooking lesson and an art project mixed into one. And, as usual, my mom was right: ”
I believe with all of my heart that love is the best ingredient in all recipes.

Ingredients:
4 medium-sized apples
1 13-ounce bag Kraft caramels
2 tablespoons whipping cream
½ cup chopped salted peanuts
Thick wooden skewers or chopsticks

You can use any type of apple, sweet or tart — just choose ones that stand without wobbling. Wash and dry the apples, then insert a thick wooden skewer into the top, straight down into the core and lining up with the stem. I save my takeout chopsticks for just this sort of thing, but you can order special wooden sticks that are strong enough to hold the apple when eating.

Chop the peanuts and put them in a medium-sized bowl.

Unwrap all the caramels. (They come individually packaged, so this will take a few minutes.)

You can use a double boiler to melt the caramels, but I typically fill a saucepan with a few inches of water and place a larger glass oven-safe bowl over the pan for melting. Add all the caramel cubes with 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream. You can use water in a pinch, but the heavy cream richens the flavor.

Bring the pan of water to a boil, place the bowl over the pan, reduce the heat to medium-low and allow the caramel to melt. This can take 15-20 minutes. Stir the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.

Once everything is melted, mix it well with the spatula and reduce the heat to low, leaving the pan over the flame. If you have a kitchen thermometer, the optimal temperature for the caramel is between 190 F and 200 F. If the caramel is too cool it will be difficult to spread, and if it’s too hot it will slide off of the apple. (Just be careful because there is something about caramel that holds in the heat and it can give you a really bad burn.)

Pick up each apple by the wooden stick and turn it over into the warm caramel, rotating it for good coverage. Use a hot pad or mitt and tip the bowl to the side to help coat the apples.

After each apple is coated, dip it into the peanuts, then repeat.

You can make plain apples without nuts, just expect the caramel to pool a little at the bottom. The nuts help hold it in place a bit better.

Set each apple on a prepared tray, lined with parchment or wax paper. If your kitchen is warm, you may want to put the apples in the fridge to set; otherwise set them out to cool. They can be eaten after resting for 25 minutes.

If making ahead, line a square baking dish with parchment or wax paper and tent the dish with plastic wrap over the sticks, pressing it down onto the baking dish to seal at the edge.

If you have a bit of extra caramel left over, mix peanuts into the caramel. When it’s cool enough to touch, you can form small balls for a few extra treats.

Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.