I last made these apples a couple years ago, and little Russell requested them for our Family Home Evening treat this week, so here they are! (Oh, don't worry. Our FHE treats are typically nothing this fancy...) These are pretty easy to do, and kiddos can help. Trey was my buddy with this project. (Keyan helped a little, too.) It's fun to choose what candies and cookies to use.
So sorry the pictures are awful. We don't have a great camera, and my cell phone does the best job, sadly enough.
10 small apples
10 craft sticks
2 14 oz bags wrapped caramel candies
4 T water
1 t vanilla
2 12 oz bags milk, semi-sweet, or white chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet and white.)
2 t shortening
Crushed oreos, m&ms, or other candies and cookies (We did christmas Oreos, plain M&Ms, pretzel M&Ms, and Reese's. The Reese's and Pretzel M&Ms were my favorite ones.)
1. Wash your apples, and wash them well. Rub your fingers roughly all over the tops to get any of the waxy coating off.
2. Push your sticks into the center of your apples and put them in the freezer for 40 minutes.
3. Unwrap your caramels. (Or have your kids unwrap them for you. They love that they are helping and don't mind the grunt work!) :-) Put them in a medium sized sauce pan with the water and vanilla. Turn the heat to medium and let the caramels melt. Stir them often. You don't want them burning to the bottom of your pan.
4. Dip each apple into the caramel. It will begin to set up pretty quickly. Hold the apple over the caramel to let excess drip off. Then turn it sideways and rotate it a few times as the caramel starts to harden. Finally, turn them upside down for just a bit so the bottom part can start to set. Just 20 seconds or so will do fine. Place the apple on a piece of tin foil (not wax paper) that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Place the caramel apples in the refrigerator to continue setting up, while you work on melting the chocolate.
6. Put each bag of chocolate in a glass measuring cup or bowl. Melt the chips in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time stirring after each cooking interval. Add 1 t shortening to each of your chocolate mixtures and stir to incorporate.
7. Grab your apples out of the fridge. Take each apple and mold the bottom of it with your hand to get rid of the flat bottom. Dip the apples into the chocolate. Hold the apple above the chocolate container to allow excess chocolate to drip off. I liked to hold it over the bowl and do kind of a spinning motion to get excess chocolate off.
8. Roll the chocolate covered apple in the crushed candy or cookie of your choice. The way I do it is more of a pressing than a rolling motion. Since the chocolate is still pretty runny, it seems to work better. Press first onto the bottom, then press a side, turn and press, etc. I found I had to rotate it several times around to get the whole thing covered.
9. Set the dipped apple back on the sprayed tin foil to set up.
10. Place them back in the fridge to finish setting up. It should only take about 20 minutes for the chocolate to be totally set up.
11. To cut for serving, place an apple on your cutting board. Slice the apple in half, putting your knife right next to the stick. Once you cut it, the stick should come free. Put the apple flat side down on the board, and cut in half again. Place the quarter apple on the board on one of the flat sides and slice off the core diagonally. Cut this piece in half, and you will have two slices (two eighths) of the apple. Enjoy!!
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