Candy Apples

My daughter Sam loves to bake almost as much as me.  She had a day off on Friday and decided to make some candy apples for our friends kids.

I think she did an awesome job.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

Choose large, blemish free granny smith apples.

Choose your colours.  She used Wilton paste icing colour.

Flavored oils add a nice touch.

Add 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar and 1/2 water and 4 tbsp clear corn syrup.  Do not stir.  Clip candy thermometer to the side of the pot and immerse tip into mixture without it touching the bottom.  Heat to 305 degrees (hard candy stage).  Remove from heat and quickly add color and flavor stirring to combine.  Insert stick into each apple and dip into liquid to coat completely.  These measurements will do approximately 4 large apples.

I remember every Halloween, every kid in the neighbourhood ran to the Barclay’s house first to make sure they got one of Mrs. Barclay’s famous candy apples!  Shiny red just like the one pictured above!

Deserving of a pedestal!!

Sadly, there is a tragic ending to this story.  Sam put the completed apples in the oven overnight to make sure they were safe from flying dust and/or curious cat.  I set out to bake on Saturday and preheated the oven completely forgetting about the candy apples.  I am sure you see where this is going!  I opened the oven to put my squares in to bake and was faced with 6 wrinkly granny smith apples with sticks and a huge puddle of melted candy coating covering the parchment line tray!  I could have cried.  Thankfully when she arrived home from work,  although she was not impressed with me, ultimately had to laugh about it!

So these pictures are the only memory we have of all her hard work and beautiful results.  Well these pictures and some wrinkled up half baked granny smiths!!

In other news……visit my recipe page for an index of all the recipes on Red Cottage Chronicles!  I will continue to build the index until all recipes are included.  Click on the word Recipes at the top of the page just beneath the header.