Homemade caramel apples

Fall is my favorite time of year.  Not only because the weather is cooler (yay for sweatshirts!), the leaves are turning (so pretty!), the holidays are getting closer, but also the food is so good!

Take a look at my pumpkin bread from my last post, for example.  MMM.  Or apple cider.  Or hard cider.  Or mulled cider.  Or spiced wine.  Or apple ANYTHING.  Which includes....caramel apples.

When I set out to make my caramel apples, I wanted to make homemade caramel.  Just opening packages of caramel candy & melting it--that feels like cheating.  I also wanted to make homemade caramel without corn syrup (& that used heavy cream instead of evaporated milk, as I had bought a carton of heavy cream instead).  I stumbled across a recipe for chewy caramels & figured I could just dip the apples in the caramel before it cooled.

Surprise, it worked!  The caramel was a little more runny than normal caramel for apples...so I may play around with the recipe to thicken it up a little.  But boy is that some darn good caramel.  & very sweet, which may go with tart apples really well.

Caramel Apples:

Ingredients:
1 c. heavy cream
1 & 1/2 c. white sugar (I used cane sugar)
1/2 c. honey (I used Michigan pure raw honey)
7 Tbs. butter (one whole stick minus a slab), room temp  (I used unsalted butter because that is what I had)

Heat the honey & sugar in a pot on the stove on medium heat until melted & caramelized (it will darken in color & be really bubbly).  I let this cook to about 250 degrees on my candy thermometer (I highly recommend you use a candy thermometer..I usually use a combination of the candy thermometer & the spoon test).  While the sugar & honey are melting, wash off about 8-16 apples (double coating=8 apples) & stick them with a stick (I used short wooden skewer sticks, popsicle sticks will also work).  Also warm the cream to a simmer.

Once the sugars are caramelized, whisk in the butter, a slab at a time.  Then whisk in the cream a little at a time (it bubbles up).  Heat until the mixture reaches about 235-240 degrees (or "soft ball").  Remove from heat & let it cool a little.

Once the bubbles go down & the mix has cooled (1-2 minutes), take each apple & twirl it through the caramel.  Place on foil or wax paper (I used wax paper...the caramel still stuck to the paper, so it may have to be buttered or greased).  Let cool a couple minutes, then repeat the process for a second coating if you are doing so.  Let cool (may be refrigerated).

I haven't actually tried the caramel apples yet, but did lick the leftover caramel & it is REALLY good.  I may also try making the caramel as candies to hand out along with gifts at Christmas.  :)

EDIT:  So now that its been a day...  This recipe made very sticky caramel.  It may be because it wasn't cooked long enough nor to a high enough temp (it was roughly 235-240 degrees according to my candy thermometer).  Most of the caramel ended up pooled around the apples with a light coating on the apple.  Sticking the apples in the fridge made it near impossible to remove from the wax paper (although once it set out for a while at room temp, it loosened enough to remove an apple).  I need to play around with this recipe a bit to perfect it.

Pumpkin Bread

So, I know I haven't posted in awhile.  I have a few recipes that I've been meaning to share (including Tortilla Espanola and Eggplant Parmesan), but I just haven't found time to actually upload the pictures nor sit down to write an entry.  But I just tried this recipe for Pumpkin Bread and it is just THAT amazing that I had to sit down & immediately share it, even though no pictures are uploaded yet (I'll add them....eventually).  This bread is moist and has just the right hint of pumpkin & spices.  I also love the slight brown sugar glaze that I added.

The original recipe for Pumpkin Bread is found over at my favorite site, allrecipes.com.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/2 c. canola oil
1/2 c. sweetened applesauce (plain, not cinnamon)
2/3 c. water
2 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (I used unbleached all-purpose flour)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour three loaf pans (I used two glass, one metal).
2. In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, water, and sugars.  In a separate bowl, mix flours, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mix until just blended (don't over-stir!).  Pour into pans.
3. Bake for 40 minutes.
4.  Mix a little bit of water and brown sugar together (I guessed, but it was maybe 2-3 Tbs. water to like 4-5 Tbs. brown sugar) and drizzle and spread over the top of the loaves.
5.  Return loaves to oven & bake an additional 10-20 minutes until done (test with a toothpick in the center, if it comes out clean, its done).

I let the bread sit in the pans for about an hour to cool before trying to remove them.

*NOTE:  I bought a 29 oz can of pumpkin because it was on sale & all they had left.  I could have easily doubled the recipe, but I only have 3 loaf pans.  So I refrigerated the rest, and I am sure I'll be making this recipe again in a week.

I loved how easy this recipe was to just throw together.  No mashing of bananas like for banana bread, no shredding of zucchini like for zucchini bread.  Just scooping the pumpkin out of the can.  I did feel guilty for using canned pumpkin though (as my boyfriend pointed out "BPA lined tin can! ARGH!").  So I'm kind of wondering what this recipe would taste like using the insides from an actual pumpkin.  Don't know if I'd want to go through all that trouble though...maybe for some day that I'm feeling adventerous.

If you try this recipe on your own, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!