Toffeeeee Apples!

I’ve been meaning to make toffee apples for years but I’ve always been a little afraid of the boiling hot sugar element and shied away... This year I finally made them and realised that there’s nothing scary about them at all! I didn’t even get close to pouring 140°C molten sugar on myself, result! I would however advise against using bamboo sticks in them as I did manage to give myself a nasty splinter from them, yowzer! 

The recipe below is from BBC Good Food and it worked perfectly. I actually made a batch, coated the apples, let them set and repeated to get another crispy coating. I also used Cox’s apples for mine as they’re nice and small. 

The best way to make these is with a sugar thermometer as the mixture needs to get up to 140°C, you can do it without but I find it a little trickier. 

But yes easy and nicely autumnal. Make them!

Ingredients

12 Cox’s apples

400g golden caster sugar

1tsp vinegar

4tbsp golden syrup

Method

Place the apples in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. This will remove the waxy coating and help the caramel to stick. Dry thoroughly and twist off any stalks. Push a wooden skewer or lolly stick into the stalk end of each apple.

Lay out a sheet of baking parchment and place the apples on this, close to your stovetop. Tip the sugar into a pan along with 100ml water and set over a medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves, then stir in the vinegar and syrup. Set a sugar thermometer in the pan and boil to 140C or 'hard crack' stage. If you don't have a thermometer you can test the toffee by pouring a little into a bowl of cold water. It should harden instantly and, when removed, be brittle and easy to break. If you can still squish the toffee, continue to boil it.

Working quickly and carefully, dip and twist each apple in the hot toffee until covered, let any excess drip away, then place on the baking parchment to harden. You may have to heat the toffee a little if the temperature drops and it starts to feel thick and viscous. Leave the toffee to cool before eating. I would hear allow them to cool before repeating the process again.

Enjoy! x