Homemade toffee apples
By Emma Lewis
Cooking time
Prep: 10 mins Cook: 10 minsSkill level
For the keen cookServings
Makes 8Nothing beats the crunch of a toffee apple on a crisp autumnal evening, and these taste so much better than shop bought
Nutrition and extra info
Nutrition
- kcalories
- 278
- protein
- 0g
- carbs
- 73g
- fat
- 0g
- saturates
- 0g
- fibre
- 2g
- sugar
- 73g
- salt
- 0.06g
Ingredients
- 8 Granny Smith apples
- 400g golden caster sugar
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 4 tbsp golden syrup
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Method
- Place the apples in a large bowl, then cover with boiling water (you may have to do this in 2 batches). This will remove the waxy coating and help the caramel to stick. Dry thoroughly and twist off any stalks. Push a wooden skewer or lolly stick into the stalk end of each apple.
- Lay out a sheet of baking parchment and place the apples on this, close to your stovetop. Tip the sugar into a pan along with 100ml water and set over a medium heat. Cook for 5 mins until the sugar dissolves, then stir in the vinegar and syrup. Set a sugar thermometer in the pan and boil to 140C or 'hard crack' stage. If you don’t have a thermometer you can test the toffee by pouring a little into a bowl of cold water. It should harden instantly and, when removed, be brittle and easy to break. If you can still squish the toffee, continue to boil it.
- Working quickly and carefully, dip and twist each apple in the hot toffee until covered, let any excess drip away, then place on the baking parchment to harden. You may have to heat the toffee a little if the temperature drops and it starts to feel thick and viscous. Leave the toffee to cool before eating. Can be made up to 2 days in advance, stored in a dry place.
Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2009
Comments, questions and tips
Comments
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Update: The toffee from my toffee apples melted and became all sticky overnight ("fiona" the same problem on 29 October 2011). After a bit of internet research, I think I've worked out that it was probably because I heated the mixture too quickly (that will also be the reason that it burned) and may also have had something to do with the fact that it's winter so the heating is on (which definitely makes sense - I just didn't think of it last night!)
I used half soft dark sugar and half white caster sugar (because that's what I had in) and it worked very well, although the colour us VERY dark (quite appropriate for Hallowe'en :) ). With the dark sugar it tastes almost a little treacle-y.
I wish I'd realised how much it would bubble up, though! I've never worked with sugar before and I had to switch pans half way through the process because it was in serious danger of boiling over. It made a pretty unpleasant acrid burning smell, too; if anyone has advice to prevent that I'd appreciate it! However it worked well and the apples tasted great :)
I'm very grateful for the tips about putting the apples in boiling water first and the one about how to clean the pan.
My tips for others are:
1. Use a very large pan.
2. Get everything prepared before you start melting the sugar because once you start the sugar, it WILL eat ALL your attention.
I've made toffee apples before but gona try this recipe then make honeycomb with the leftover toffee. Ty for the water tip to remove the waxy will try that, I also add honey to my mixture tasted great, golden syrup was too chewy, also parchement does stick so just rest them on a glass chopping board worked for me, and if you want to wrap them try a florist they have clear wrapping which I use then tie with ribbon :)
Lovely recipe. Glad I had a thermometer as it took away the guess work. I used royal gala apples as I like the red effect. Found that the apples stuck to the baking paper but if you hit the top with a fork so that the toffee underneath shatters, it seems to peel off OK. My four year old has just spent a sticky, but happy, hour eating hers- bath time!
