Thursday, October 18, 2012

Red & Black Candy Apples


8-10 medium sized Red Delicious or Honey Crisp apples
8-10 wooden twigs, trimmed and cleaned
3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup of waterseveral drops of cinnamon flavored oil
1/4 teaspoon of red food coloring
1/4 teaspoon of black food coloring

Clean and dry the apples. 
Remove any stems or leaves and insert a twig into the end of each apple. To make things easier, you can carefully sharpen the end of the twig or use a candy stick to create a guide hole.

Set apples aside.

Heat and stir sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan until sugar has dissolved.

Boil until the syrup reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. 
Don’t go over 310 degrees or your candy will burn.
Remove from heat and stir in flavored oil and food coloring.

Dip one apple completely in the syrup and swirl it so that it becomes coated with the melted sugar candy.

Hold the apple above the saucepan to drain off excess. 
Place apple, with the stick facing up, onto a baking sheet with parchment paper or non stick-foil.
 
Repeat the process with all the remaining apples. 

If your syrup thickens or cools too much, simply reheat briefly before proceeding. 
Let the apples cool completely before serving.

Regarding the black apples: darker apples like red delicious help the black candy appear as dark as possible.