Candy Corn Caramel Apples

Are you a candy corn lover or hater?? I personally love candy corn and always have a bowl of it out during the month of October.  Either way though, you should try these caramel apples! They don't taste like candy corn, just caramel but the orange color is so fun.  Great way to use up any leftover candy corn you might have laying around.  You can pretty much use any apple variety you like here, but tart apples like Granny Smith or Honeycrisp are an especially delicious contrast to the sweet caramel.  I used some small Honeycrisp apples that came from my parent's tree and they worked perfectly! The caramel for the apples is made up of only 4 ingredients and is made in the microwave making these so quick and easy.  You can leave them plain or add your favorite toppings.  I used some melted white chocolate to make a few ghosts, and no surprise here, those were the first ones to get eaten! 

Candy Corn Caramel Apples

modified from How Does She?

Ingredients:

14 oz bag caramels, unwrapped

1 cup candy corns

2 TBSP cream, milk, or evaporated milk

2 tsp vanilla

4-6 large apples, or 10-12 small apples

candy apple sticks (can also use lollipop sticks or popsicle sticks)

Chocolate Coating

1 cup chocolate chips

1 TBSP shortening

Melt together in microwave for 1 minute, then 30 seconds, stirring after each till nice and smooth.  

Directions:

Wash and dry apples.  Remove stems and push sticks in their place.  If you aren't using a pointed stick here, you may want to use a hammer or mallet to help get the sticks in.  Or just some elbow grease ;).

If desired, prepare some toppings in bowls to roll the apples in.  

Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper or silpat liner.  These apples will be very sticky so you want something they apples won't stick to! 

Place unwrapped caramels, candy corns, and cream in a medium sized microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 1 minute.  Stir, then microwave for another 30 seconds.  Stir until smooth and add vanilla, then stir again.  If needed, microwave for another 30 seconds.  I also found that it was helpful to put the caramel back in the microwave for 20-30 seconds after dipping a few apples so it didn't get too thick.  

Taking an apple, swirl it around in the hot caramel till it is mostly coated.  Holding the apple up over the bowl, let the excess caramel drip into the bowl for a bit then scrape the bottom of the apple on the side of the bowl before placing apple on the pan.  Repeat with all the apples, re-warming the caramel as needed. 

At this point, before setting the apple down, you can roll the apple in toppings if you'd like to.  If you are wanting to add a chocolate coating though, it is best to chill the apples first! 

Place sheet pan in fridge or freezer to firm up.  This won't take long.  Maybe 10 -20 min. Once firm, pick up the apples, one by one and gently mold the caramel around the bottom of the apple, if desired.  Now you're ready for chocolate! 

For the ghosts:

Using a spoon, gently pour white chocolate on top of apple and let it drizzle down the sides.  Let the white chocolate harden before adding eyes and month.  Eyes and mouth can be made with M&M's or melted dark chocolate.  I melted about a TBSP of dark chocolate then placed it right into the corner of a ziplock bag.  I then snipped a tiny corner off and used it like a piping bag to carefully squeeze it onto the white chocolate.  

For the drizzle:

Holding your apple over the bowl of chocolate, use a fork to drizzle the chocolate over the apple in one direction first, and then the other.  Add some sprinkles if desired.  I found it was easiest to do this over the trash can so they didn't go everywhere.