These bad boys were from last year. Rachel makes incredible homemade caramel that turns out every time! So, I took her recipe and pasted the applicable part here. Christy just reminded me that this works best when the apples are cold or the caramel slides right off.
Caramel Apples
Ingredients:
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup light-colored karo syrup (HINT: Golden Syrup can be used as a substitute)
- ¼ cup butter
- 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- however many apples you want {chilled!}
- decorative sprinkles
In a small heavy saucepan combine brown sugar, karo syrup (or Golden Syrup), and butter. Bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sweetened condensed milk. Return to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 236 degrees F, soft-ball stage (should take about 10 minutes). (Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a steady boil.) Remove saucepan from heat; stir in vanilla. Cool 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly thickened. (Hint: As I don’t use a thermometer, I just set the timer for exactly ten minutes; works every time.)
Next, push the sticks into the apples by the stems. Dip each apple into the mixture, twirling it so excess caramel can drip off. For extra fun, you can dip the apple bottoms into sprinkles or such. Then, gently set apples on wax paper to dry.
You can buy caramel bits now and melt them to dip apples. It saves unwrapping all the individual caramels which is how I’ve done them in the past. I’d like to make some fancy ones one of these days. Pioneer Woman showed some fun ones a few days ago.