Caramel apples always brings me back to my childhood and celebrating Halloween – bobbing for apples, dipping them in caramel, then the puzzle of how to expand my jaw to bite into them. I never actually liked eating them though because there was too much apple in proportion to caramel. I decided for this recipe I’d make miniature caramel apples! I loved how they turned out.
Aren’t these baby apples adorable?
I cut the caramel recipe in half to adjust for the much smaller sized apples that I had. I had to be much more careful caramelizing the sugar because there wasn’t a lot of sugar in the pot and it was close to burning before even reaching the temperature listed in the recipe. I pulled the caramel off the stove when it was pretty dark. Then I coated the apples, sprinkled on a bit of fleur de sel and placed them on a silpat to firm up.
This being my first time making caramel apples, I wasn’t sure when they’d be ready. They never actually harden and remain rather pliable. I tried wrapping some of the caramels in cello and placing some on mini muffin liners but the caramel was getting stuck and I wasn’t sure how to deal with it so I served them off the silpat-lined baking pan, not ideal. As far as flavor, I would have preferred the caramel a little less dark so it would be a bit sweeter in contrast to the tart apples. I did like my addition of fleur de sel. Another thing I might do next time is to chill the apples first so when I dip them, the caramel hardens more quickly instead of dripping and puddling at the base. All in all, a fun Halloween activity!
Week 49 of the Bouchon Bakery Book Project
Read the Project recap on Caramel Apples
Bake with us!
