Though my mother was a domestic goddess, I regret I never showed an interest in cooking until I graduated from college. However, the one thing I could make in high school was caramel. Not just any caramel but great caramel.
In fact, so renowned was my caramel that my family now looks forward to my caramel popcorn every Christmas. A few years ago when I was home in Canada, we all got the stomach plague. We strongly suspected the virus had been passed to one another via our germy hands pawing at the caramel popcorn. When my Aunt Sue arrived a couple of days later, we warned her but she blew us off.
“I’ll take my chances.”
Famous last words. But she claims The Plague was worth it for the caramel popcorn.
Surprisingly, I’ve never made caramel apples so we made them for dessert at my recent dinner party. Between dipping the apples and getting creative with the toppings, the kiddos had a blast.
And as far as I know, no one got the stomach flu as a result.
Delicious Caramel Apple Recipe (slightly revised version from my favorite caramels)
Ingredients
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup)
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup corn syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
Approximately 12 apples (we preferred tart to go with the sweet)
Popsicle sticks
Toppings for dipping (chocolate chips, coconut, melted chocolate, sprinklers, etc.)
Instructions
To prepare caramel, cook ingredients in a saucepan on medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. At this point, you can either cook it to a soft ball stage or attach a candy thermometer to the pan and increase heat to a rolling boil and the thermometer is about 230°F, stirring constantly.
Cool the caramel about 15 minutes until it thickens up just a bit. (Our first batch was too warm and therefore a bit runny and didn’t stick as well).
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, put the Popsicle sticks in the top of the apples, dip, swirl and hold the apple in the caramel until covered. Then, put on cookie sheet and decorate as desired. Enjoy!
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 