Salted caramel apples
From carnivals to fairs, the candy-covered apple is one of those quintessential festival treats and, along with candy corn, a Halloween staple. Caramel apples are probably the easiest ones to make: Take a crisp apple and swirl it with a coating of rich caramel. You can easily make your own caramel from scratch, using just a handful of ingredients.
The first thing you’ll want to do is give your apples a good cleaning. Beyond the natural dirt, you’ll need to remove any wax. Blanch your apples for 10 seconds or so in boiling water treated with a little lemon juice or cider vinegar; the acid in the water will help break down the wax. Wipe the apples clean, then chill them in an ice bath to bring the temperature down so the residual heat doesn’t cook the apples.
For a thicker caramel coating, cool the caramel slightly before coating the apples. If the caramel becomes too thick, simply rewarm to thin.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Butter or grease the paper and set the sheet aside.
In a small, heavy pot, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup, stirring until the sugar has the consistency of wet sand. Place the saucepan over high heat and cook until the sugar dissolves and begins to boil. Do not stir the sugar, as this may cause it to seize.
While the sugar is cooking, combine the cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Keep an eye on the sugar while you’re heating the cream to keep it from scorching. Cook until the butter melts, stirring it into the cream. When the mixture has come to a simmer, remove from heat.
Continue to cook the sugar until it darkens to a rich caramel color, 7 to 10 minutes — the sugar will darken quickly and noticeably and will smell faintly nutty. (For lighter caramel, simply cook the sugar to a lighter color.) Swirl the pan as the sugar darkens to judge the true color of the caramel (the sugar may darken in patches if there are hot spots on the stove). Watch carefully, as the sugar can easily overcook at this point and burn.
As soon as the color is darkened, remove the pan from the heat and quickly add the cream mixture in a slow, steady stream. The sugar will bubble and steam as the cream is added; be careful as both the mixture and steam are very hot.
Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook just until a candy thermometer inserted reaches 248 degrees. Carefully stir in the vanilla. Remove from heat.
Pour the caramel into a heatproof and microwave-safe bowl and set aside until the caramel begins to cool and thicken. You want the caramel cool enough so the apples have a nice thick coating as they are dipped, but still warm enough that the excess caramel drips off somewhat easily. If the caramel cools too much, microwave the caramel to warm and thin as needed.
Dip the apples in the caramel, coating them on all sides and allowing any excess to drip back into the pot. Transfer the coated apples to the baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, and set aside to cool completely.
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