These are the candy apples I made for my Grand son’s 3rd Birthday! These were really good. This recipe makes 8 candy apples, but I just multiplied it to make 40 apples. I had no problems with adapting the recipe to coat the 40 apples. This is NOT a recipe for little kids to help with. Please use/take extreme caution and care when cooking sugar syrup to 300 degrees!
Candy Apples
8 Medium Apples (tart apples are best, but because I was serving them to mostly kids I picked a sweeter apple, it still worked out great! I used Gala’s)
8 Wooden Sticks (I used skewers)
3 Cups White Sugar
1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup
1 Cup Water
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon (Optional) (I think the flavored cinnamon oil would work best here)
1/4 tsp. Red food coloring (Optional)
Wash and dry the apples. Remove any stems or leaves and insert a wooden stick into the end of each apple. Set apples aside. Heat and stir sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Boil until the syrup reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until a little syrup dropped into cold water separates into breakable threads. ( I highly suggest a candy thermometer here.) (The mixture will take a while to reach 300 degrees.)
Remove from heat and stir in cinnamon and food coloring, if using. Dip one apple completely in the syrup and swirl it around a little with the stick to coat. Hold the apple above the saucepan to drain off excess. Place apple, with the stick facing up on a well-greased pan. (Silpat works great here!! No need to grease!) Repeat with remaining apples. If syrup thickens or cools too much, simply reheat briefly before proceeding. Let cool completely before serving.
Note: Use extreme caution when cooking sugar mixture to 300 degrees!! It’s really important to remove the pan from the heat when it reaches 300 degrees. Don’t even turn the burner off and leave the pan on the burner. I did a couple just to show you what happens if you do. The sugar mixture cooks further, they will lose their shine and will discolor, like the picture below. If mixture becomes to stiff to coat the apples, briefly re-heat to a syrup again. These are really easy to make, but I’m gonna be honest and tell you they are MESSY!! Don’t let this deter you from making these at least once. Soaking your pan in soapy water will remove the candy mixture from the pan.
Below is a picture of what happens if you do not remove the pan from the burner:
