Toffee Apples

With Halloween just days away thoughts are turning to tricks and treats and while I am partial to a good trick I am more in favour of sweet treats. Growing up I loved chocolate covered apples and toffee apples even more. They were one of the best things about Halloween in my eyes!

I have always said I would make my own and over the years I have made chocolate apples but this is the first year that I experimented with toffee apples. It was worth the wait however and they turned out to be a fantastic treat to make that I  think shouldn’t just be unearthed at Halloween. They are simple to make and versatile with a lot of different combinations to try.

From the ones that I made the popcorn one, while an utter experiment at the time, turned out to be my favourite. It was the perfect combination of salty from the popcorn, sweetness of the toffee and tart freshness of the apple.

For an alternative to the below recipe you could add a generous pinch of sea salt to the toffee mix and have salted toffee apples that could then be drizzles with dark chocolate for extra decadence.

Toffee Apples

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Ingredients:

  • 4 large eating apples
  • 200g golden caster sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vinegar
  • 2tbsp golden syrup

Method:

  1. Wash the apples in hot water and gently dry using a tea towel to remove any wax that may be on the apples
  2. Cover a baking tin with parchment paper and leave beside the cooker
  3. Prepare any extra toppings you want to use in bowls near the cooker
  4. Tip the sugar into a pan along with 100ml water and set over a medium heat
  5. Cook for 5 mins until the sugar dissolves, then stir in the vinegar and syrup
  6. Boil the mixture to 150C or ‘hard crack’ stage. (If you don’t have a thermometer you can test the toffee by dropping some into a bowl of cold water. It should harden instantly and, when removed, be brittle and easy to break.)
  7. Working quickly and carefully, dip and twist each apple in the hot toffee until covered, let any excess drip away, then dunk them into any toppings you want to use
  8. Place the finished apple on the baking tray to harden
  9. The apples can store for up to two days… if they don’t get eaten straight away

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