Candy red Apple. Candy Apples Recipe
Candy Apples Recipe
A professional pastry chef, cookbook author, and writer, Elizabeth LaBau has published more than 600 articles on baking and candy making.
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(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Candy apples are a fairground classic, but they’re also surprisingly easy to make at home. Use this simple recipe for homemade cinnamon candy apples to make crisp, tart apples with a crunchy cinnamon coating.
The secret to the authentic, spicy cinnamon taste? Using Red Hot candies in the coating. They form a crunchy candy shell with a bright red color and hot cinnamon flavor, no additional flavoring or food coloring required. The only special equipment you’ll need is a good candy thermometer and eight wooden skewers.
Serve these festive candy apples at your next all-ages shindig. They’re perfect for a Halloween party, back-to-school gathering, birthday party, autumn festival, and more. Wrapped in plastic and tied with a ribbon, they make great take-home favors, too.
Steps to Make It
- Gather the ingredients.
Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil or parchment paper and lightly spraying with nonstick cooking spray.
Wash and dry apples carefully. Make sure that no water remains on the apples.
Remove stems and firmly stick skewers in stem ends.
Combine sugar, corn syrup, and hot water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
Stir until sugar dissolves, then continue to cook, without stirring, until mixture reaches 250 F on a candy thermometer.
Wipe down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush occasionally to prevent crystallization.
Once candy reaches 250 F, add cinnamon candies and stir briefly until candies melt and incorporate into sugar syrup.
Continue to cook candy coating, occasionally washing down sides with wet pastry brush, until mixture reaches 285 F.
Remove pan from heat and stir mixture so that it is smooth and even.
Immediately start to dip apples. Hold an Apple by skewer and dip in candy coating, tilting pan at an angle and rotating Apple to cover it completely with a smooth, even layer of red candy.
Pull Apple out of pan and twirl it to remove any excess. Set it stick-side up on prepared baking sheet.
Repeat with remaining apples.
Allow apples to cool at room temperature before serving. Candy apples are best enjoyed within 24 hours.
Tips
- You can substitute chopsticks or Popsicle sticks for the skewers
- The candy mixture will start to set almost as soon as you pull it off the heat, so if it begins to harden before you are done and is difficult to work with, return to the pan to the heat and warm it gently, over medium-low heat, just until it liquefies again.
Easy Candy Apples Recipe
If you’ve ever set foot in a fair or carnival, there’s a good chance you’ve enjoyed or have at least seen a candy Apple. The delightful treat is a carnie staple, transforming the classic fruit into a simple but delicious handheld treat. There are quite a few varieties of candy apples, with the term caramel Apple more accurately describing a fair lot of them; a genuine candy Apple, however, is easily distinguishable thanks to its vibrant red hue and hard, sticky outer coating.
Believe it or not, you don’t have to so much as think about a carnival to enjoy a candy Apple. Thanks to this recipe from developer Jessica Morone, you can enjoy all of the sweet fun in your own kitchen, with only a handful of ingredients. These candy apples remind me of my favorite time of year: autumn, Morone says. They make me think of fall festivals, Apple picking, and cool weather, and they are just such a fun item to make and eat. But you aren’t limited to only getting these in the fall, you can make them anytime you want! If you too, like Morone, want to embrace fall festivities even during the off-season, then this easy candy Apple recipe will have you reaching for that flannel in no time.
Gather the ingredients for easy candy apples
The ingredients list is pretty short here — for starters, you’ll need apples, and Morone opts for Granny Smiths. You can use a different type of Apple if you prefer, but Granny Smith[s] are the best because they are firm enough to hold up to the hard candy shell, and are also a tart so the sweet candy shell goes well with them, Morone explains. Aside from the apples, you’ll need granulated sugar, water, lemon juice, and some red food coloring to get that recognizable hue. As for non-edible necessities, have some wooden skewers, popsicle sticks, or lollipop sticks handy to truly make these apples a handheld treat.
If you were expecting corn syrup to be on this list, Morone explains why the staple isn’t necessary in this case. The special ingredient here is the lemon juice, says Morone. A lot of candy Apple recipes use corn syrup, but the acidity in the lemon juice works to keep the sugar from crystalizing the same way corn syrup does, so you don’t need corn syrup here.
Prep the apples
Start by washing and thoroughly drying each of the apples. Then, using your skewer of choice, insert one into the center core of each Apple. You can use the little stem on top of the Apple to help you find the center. As you work, place each skewered Apple onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
Make the candy coating
With the apples ready to go, you can FOCUS on making the candy coating. Place a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan on the stovetop over medium heat and add in the water, sugar, and lemon juice. Allow the mixture to come to a boil and once it does, lower the heat so it comes to a simmer. Continue simmering until the candy mixture reaches 300 F — a candy thermometer is pretty crucial here to ensure you reach that hard crack stage. And do be patient, as it will take the candy 20 to 30 minutes to reach the right temperature. Once it does reach 300 F, remove the candy from the stovetop and gently stir in the red food coloring.
Dip the apples in the candy coating
Grab an Apple and dip it into the candy mixture, swirling it in a full loop to ensure that the entire surface is covered. Once dunked, hover the Apple above the pan to allow any excess candy to fall back in. Then, place the candy Apple back onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat the process until each Apple is coated.
Now, a classic candy Apple just has the red candy shell, but there is room for creativity here if you so choose. Once the apples have been dipped in the candy coating, you can add other toppings if you want, like crushed up nuts, sprinkles, or shredded coconut, Morone says. You will want to dip the apples in your topping of choice as soon as the Apple is dipped in the candy and before it gets too hard for any additional toppings to stick.
Enjoy these easy candy apples
Once the candy shell has hardened, there’s only one thing left to do, and that’s to enjoy these festive little treats — but probably don’t bite directly into one. As Morone advises, These are great any time as a treat, you just want to make sure you cut these into pieces rather than trying to bite right into them!
If you happen to have leftover apples, there’s a good chance that they’ll last you a while. If the apples are completely coated in candy they can last up to 2 weeks in the fridge, Morone explains. If there is a gap in the candy and the stick they will last about 3 days in the fridge before starting to turn brown inside.
Easy Candy Apples
This easy Candy Apples are a fabulous last minute Halloween treat, and any fun day treat! They are super easy, sweet, a classic and a favorite for all ages! You need sugar, water and food coloring (NO corn syrup!!) to make these sweet Apple candy treats.
Spook it up with a black Apple like we did here for Halloween and for extra drama on who will “bite” that black Apple!
Candy Apples Without Corn Syrup
As much as we all LOVE candy apples, we all agree the corn syrup is not an appealing ingredient. However these candy apples are super appealing, delicious and a perfect excuse to get the kids busy int he kitchen!
They may look hard to make, while they are in fact easy. However, they can go wrong. If they do, you won’t enjoy them! So a few things are crucial for this recipe. on that in the section below.
To avoid the corn syrup here, I made it myself within the recipe. So don’t worry, it’s still a one pan thing, but a candy or oil thermometer is essential.
Corn syrup if you make at home is basically sugar, water and cream of tartar boiled to a soft crack stage of 250 degrees F. If you buy this from the store, chances are it contains a ton of processed stuff you don’t need! So why is it used then?
Well the cream of tartar used in the corn syrup helps the caramel stay as smooth and soft as you can see. Otherwise when you boil sugar and water, the sugar tends to crystallize and your caramel may be “gritty”.
Now the good news is—lemon juice or vinegar will give you the same effect and keep your caramel silky smooth from crystallization. So for this easy candy apples recipe, feel free to use cream of tartar, lemon juice or vinegar and let’s skip the syrup!
How To Make Candy Apples
Select apples that are not waxed coated. This helps the coating stick easier on your apples. If you can’t find them, try washing the apples at home and drying them well. Apples must be dried before coating.
Also, the type of Apple you start with is totally optional. I wouldn’t choose a sweet golden delicious for example since it’s already very sweet. My Dad however would because he would totally be ok with that!
You’ll need a candy/oil thermometer to boil sugar and water to a perfect temperature of 300 degrees F. This temperature is KEY. This is the hard crack stage of sugar.
than that, you’ll get a tooth breaking crunch. Less than that, you’ll get a sticky candy coating. None are pleasant with apples!
Another thing is the coating process. So once you boil the sugar, water, food coloring till the exact temperature, you’ll need to be as fast as you can dipping the apples in the sugar mixture.
This will help get a small coating only stick to the apples because a thick coating means more tooth breaking crunch—not pleasant!
If you feel the sugar is hardening slightly as you are working, just heat it back on the stove for a few seconds to loosen it back again.
And finally, remember to drain any excess coating off the Apple before drying the coating. Again, a thick coating is not good for you tooth!
You want those easy candy apples to have a thin delicate crunch on the outside, not a thick hard one.
Candy Apples Recipe
While this candy Apple recipe is clearly Halloween themed, it certainly doesn’t have to be.
Halloween is my girls’ favorite time of the year too, they talk about it at least 3 months ahead and start counting the days. I can’t decide what their favorite part of it is, maybe the dressing up, the trick or treating, the candies and treats, the all day school party and all evening playdate, I can just say that for me it’s definitely the trick or treating!
Last week, we made these Spiderweb Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins. This week by popular demand it was candy apples.
The recipe is not daunting at all, but really having an oil/candy thermometer is key. Plus keeping yourself over the pot start to finish. This one is not a recipe where you can leave it and go!
The red color is a classic for candy apples and it just insinuates sweetness I guess. However, you can use any color! And I’ve seen many recipe with no color, just pure caramel. Still delicious!
For an even healthier candy apples recipe, use natural dried freeze berry powders for color if you can find them. We certainly prefer that, but we had only food coloring today so we used red and black. Black is obviously a Halloween thing.
Let the apples set on a parchment or wax paper for half an hour or so before biting into them. I would probably say that’s the hardest part of the recipe ha! Kids can hardly resist!
Storing the candy apples is a bit tricky. You need them in the fridge for maximum freshness. Likewise you need them to be well covered so they don’t catch any smells from the refrigerator.
I recommend placing them in a large box with a lid. However don’t forget to line your box with parchment paper so they don’t stick! Space them apart to avoid sticking too.
Finally, let them come to room temperature for about 40 minutes so the candy coating can soften a bit.
Candy Apples TIPS
Ok now do yourself and kids or friends a favor and make those easy candied apples and super enjoy! Happy Halloween!
Easy Candy Apples
This easy Candy Apples are a fabulous last minute Halloween treat, and any fun day treat! They are super easy, sweet, a classic and a favorite for all ages! You need sugar, water and food coloring (NO corn syrup!!) to make these sweet Apple candy treats.
Spook it up with a black Apple like we did here for Halloween and for extra drama on who will “bite” that black Apple!
Candy Apples Without Corn Syrup
As much as we all LOVE candy apples, we all agree the corn syrup is not an appealing ingredient. However these candy apples are super appealing, delicious and a perfect excuse to get the kids busy int he kitchen!
They may look hard to make, while they are in fact easy. However, they can go wrong. If they do, you won’t enjoy them! So a few things are crucial for this recipe. on that in the section below.
To avoid the corn syrup here, I made it myself within the recipe. So don’t worry, it’s still a one pan thing, but a candy or oil thermometer is essential.
Corn syrup if you make at home is basically sugar, water and cream of tartar boiled to a soft crack stage of 250 degrees F. If you buy this from the store, chances are it contains a ton of processed stuff you don’t need! So why is it used then?
Well the cream of tartar used in the corn syrup helps the caramel stay as smooth and soft as you can see. Otherwise when you boil sugar and water, the sugar tends to crystallize and your caramel may be “gritty”.
Now the good news is—lemon juice or vinegar will give you the same effect and keep your caramel silky smooth from crystallization. So for this easy candy apples recipe, feel free to use cream of tartar, lemon juice or vinegar and let’s skip the syrup!
How To Make Candy Apples
Select apples that are not waxed coated. This helps the coating stick easier on your apples. If you can’t find them, try washing the apples at home and drying them well. Apples must be dried before coating.
Also, the type of Apple you start with is totally optional. I wouldn’t choose a sweet golden delicious for example since it’s already very sweet. My Dad however would because he would totally be ok with that!
You’ll need a candy/oil thermometer to boil sugar and water to a perfect temperature of 300 degrees F. This temperature is KEY. This is the hard crack stage of sugar.
than that, you’ll get a tooth breaking crunch. Less than that, you’ll get a sticky candy coating. None are pleasant with apples!
Another thing is the coating process. So once you boil the sugar, water, food coloring till the exact temperature, you’ll need to be as fast as you can dipping the apples in the sugar mixture.
This will help get a small coating only stick to the apples because a thick coating means more tooth breaking crunch—not pleasant!
If you feel the sugar is hardening slightly as you are working, just heat it back on the stove for a few seconds to loosen it back again.
And finally, remember to drain any excess coating off the Apple before drying the coating. Again, a thick coating is not good for you tooth!
You want those easy candy apples to have a thin delicate crunch on the outside, not a thick hard one.
Candy Apples Recipe
While this candy Apple recipe is clearly Halloween themed, it certainly doesn’t have to be.
Halloween is my girls’ favorite time of the year too, they talk about it at least 3 months ahead and start counting the days. I can’t decide what their favorite part of it is, maybe the dressing up, the trick or treating, the candies and treats, the all day school party and all evening playdate, I can just say that for me it’s definitely the trick or treating!
Last week, we made these Spiderweb Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins. This week by popular demand it was candy apples.
The recipe is not daunting at all, but really having an oil/candy thermometer is key. Plus keeping yourself over the pot start to finish. This one is not a recipe where you can leave it and go!
The red color is a classic for candy apples and it just insinuates sweetness I guess. However, you can use any color! And I’ve seen many recipe with no color, just pure caramel. Still delicious!
For an even healthier candy apples recipe, use natural dried freeze berry powders for color if you can find them. We certainly prefer that, but we had only food coloring today so we used red and black. Black is obviously a Halloween thing.
Let the apples set on a parchment or wax paper for half an hour or so before biting into them. I would probably say that’s the hardest part of the recipe ha! Kids can hardly resist!
Storing the candy apples is a bit tricky. You need them in the fridge for maximum freshness. Likewise you need them to be well covered so they don’t catch any smells from the refrigerator.
I recommend placing them in a large box with a lid. However don’t forget to line your box with parchment paper so they don’t stick! Space them apart to avoid sticking too.
Finally, let them come to room temperature for about 40 minutes so the candy coating can soften a bit.
Candy Apples TIPS
Ok now do yourself and kids or friends a favor and make those easy candied apples and super enjoy! Happy Halloween!
