Apples in caramel - a Western delicacy that is traditionally prepared for holidays, weddings, children's birthdays.
Appetizing fruit simply can not but rejoice: it looks spectacular, it turns out delicious, it smells magical.
It's time to do it at home!
Caramelized apples at home - general cooking principles
To prepare a nice treat you will need dense, juicy fruits. Loose and overripe apples will not work. Small apples look neater and more beautiful. You can take the fruits of any color. If the coating is transparent, then red apples look prettier. The fruits are washed, dried well. If there are droplets of water on the surface, then the caramel will lie unevenly. At dried apples, ponytails are removed, sticks are stuck.
What can be used:
• wooden skewers;
• chopsticks;
• large skewers.
Small toothpicks, skewers will not work, the fruit should be firmly fixed on a stick. Otherwise, when covered, it will fall into caramel. Yes, and eating an apple on a thin or short stick is inconvenient.
Caramel can be prepared in many ways. There are many recipes below. Sugar or ready-made caramel, toffee can serve as the basis. Other ingredients are added to them: oil, corn syrup, flavoring additives. Caramel is always cooked on the stove. Readiness is checked in several ways. You can smear thinly on a plate or drip a little mass in cold water. It must harden quickly.
Ordinary caramel apples at home
A recipe for a beautiful treat that requires wooden skewers or Chinese sticks. Caramel is made from creamy sugar with butter and cow cream. This amount of product is enough for 6-8 small apples.
Ingredients
• 300 g of sugar;
• 20 g of drain oil .;
• 40 ml cream;
• 1 tbsp. l apple cider vinegar;
• 1 tablespoon of water.
Cooking
1. Rinse the apples immediately. Make sure they are ready. Remove the ponytails from the fruit, stick the skewers in their place.
2. Pour a spoonful of vinegar and the same amount of water into a saucepan, add sugar and butter, stir and place on a small fire.
3. Once the mass begins to melt, pour in the cream. Stir again. Strain the caramel over low heat until all the sugar grains have melted.
4. Now the fire can be added, after boiling periodically stir the mass.
5. After ten minutes, smear a drop of caramel on a saucer, if it quickly hardens, then it is ready. If not, boil again.
6. Now alternately dip the apples in a saucepan, rotate the apple so that the mass covers it in an even layer.
7. Put the fruit on a sheet of parchment, you can use a mat made of silicone.
8. Let the caramels freeze. If it is cooked correctly, then half an hour is enough.
Caramelized apples at home (with corn syrup)
The option is very simple and easy to make caramel for apples. To cook it, you need corn syrup. The advantage of this caramel is that it can be easily stained with any food coloring. This amount is enough for a kilogram of medium-sized apples.
Ingredients
• 1 kg of apples;
• 1 glass of water;
• ¾ cup corn syrup;
• 3 glasses of sugar;
• dyes.
Cooking
1. In clean apples, remove the tails, stick the sticks.
2. Mix all the ingredients of caramel, add any color if desired, you can drip a little vanilla or any other extract. Place the saucepan on the stove.
3. Heat the caramel, stir regularly.
4. Cover the parchment board or baking sheet, grease the sheet with a piece of butter.
5. Check the readiness of the caramel by spreading a little on a saucer or dripping into cold water.
6. If the mass grasps well, turn down the heat to a minimum; you can remove the saucepan from the stove if there are not many apples.
7. Dip apples alternately, lay on parchment.
8. Wait until the coating has hardened, the treat is done!
Apples in caramel at home (from butterscotch)
A variant of very tasty and fragrant apples in caramel at home. For cooking, you need ordinary toffee. You can use soft caramels without filling, if you can find them on sale.
Ingredients
• 7 apples;
• 400 g butterscotch;
• 2 tablespoons of water;
• 1 bag of vanilla;
• 20 g of oil.
Cooking
1. Put a piece of butter in a saucepan, you can immediately add vanillin.
2. Release the toffee from the packaging, add to the butter. Pour in water and put on a small fire.
3. Melt the mass to a liquid and homogeneous state, stir thoroughly to dissolve all pieces of butterscotch.
4. Rinse apples, put on skewers.
5. Dip the prepared fruit in melted toffee, transfer to the prepared surface.
6. This caramel does not solidify to a solid state, it remains a bit sticky, soft, dessert is convenient to eat.
Caramelized hazelnuts at home
Peanuts or walnuts are best suited for sprinkling caramel apples. To get really beautiful, take a lot of nuts. You will also need any creamy caramel and sticks.
Ingredients
• 400 g of caramel;
• 3 tablespoons of milk;
• 1 tablespoon of oil;
• 6-8 apples;
• 1-1.5 cups of nuts.
Cooking
1. First, prepare the nuts. They need to be fried in a dry frying pan, then cool well. After that, put silicone on a board or on a rug, roll it with a rolling pin, press a little. Get chopped pieces of the right size.
2. Prepare apples in the usual way: rinse, remove bulging tails, insert sticks.
3. Place caramels in a pan, add milk and butter. You can sprinkle some vanilla. Set to melt.
4. Stir the mass with a spatula, bring to uniformity.
5. Dip one apple in a pan with caramel, twist, remove. Let the excess droplets drain.
6. Bring to the bowl with nuts, generously sprinkle the sticky coating on the fruit, set aside, let the caramel harden.
7. In a similar way, you can sprinkle apples with sesame seeds, any seeds, coconut flakes, waffle chips.
Caramel and chocolate apples at home
A chic dessert option, which is not a shame to put even on the festive table. For finish use nuts. You can take another type of sprinkling from the example above. Caramel on corn syrup with condensed milk.
Ingredients
• 10-12 apples;
• 400 g of brown sugar;
• 270 g of butter (70 g in chocolate);
• 150 g of condensed milk;
• 2-3 tablespoons of nuts;
• 50 ml of corn syrup;
• 100 g of chocolate;
• vanilla, a pinch of salt.
Cooking
1. Paste the apples on sticks, put in the refrigerator for twenty minutes. This time is enough to make caramel.
2. Put 200 g butter, condensed milk in a saucepan, add brown sugar, corn syrup and vanilla. For taste, pour a small pinch of salt.
3. Put on the stove, turn on a small fire, cook the caramel until the grains are completely dissolved. Usually it takes about 12-12 minutes, you can always check the mass for readiness.
4. Now process the chilled apples one at a time.
5. Put the items on greased parchment and refrigerate them again. Soak until solidified.
6. Crumble the chocolate, add the remaining butter to it. You can replace it with fat sour cream or the same cream. Melt the icing in a water bath.
7. Chop nuts, you can fry. Or prepare any other dusting.
8. Once the chocolate has melted, immediately remove it from the water bath. The mass should not be hot.
9. Dip apples in chocolate. You can process the very tip, a third or a half of the fruit. The caramel should look out.
10. Sprinkle the chocolate layer with nuts, leave the apples to solidify completely, it is possible in the refrigerator.
Caramelized apples at home (with lemon juice)
The recipe for plain caramel on lemon juice, which covers the fruit with a mirror gloss. If desired, the fruit can be sprinkled with something.
Ingredients
• 150 g of sugar;
• 1 spoon of lemon juice;
• 2 tablespoons of water;
• 2-3 apples.
Cooking
1. In sugar, add water, lemon juice, stir, put on a slow fire. It is better to cover the saucepan so that the sugar dissolves slowly.
2. Stir occasionally to raise grains from the bottom.
3. Once all the sugar has melted, you can add fire.
4. Cook the caramel to an amber color, periodically pour a little in a spoon, make a drop in cold water. If it sets quickly, then remove the saucepan from the heat.
5. Process apples, put on a silicone mat, wait for solidification.
Caramelized apples at home - tips and tricks
• Caramel apples will look even more spectacular if painted with chocolate icing. You can make lace made of white chocolate or protein icing.
• You can even use ranet to cover with caramel. Small apples will especially appeal to children. If you add dyes to caramel, then there will be no limit to delight.
• Caramel will harden faster if coated chilled apples. In this case, the pan with glaze should be kept on a stove or in a water bath, so that at the right moment it is possible to quickly heat up the hardening mass.
• No corn syrup? It can be successfully replaced with starch diluted in clean water.
• To make caramel smooth, uniform, shiny, you need to melt the sugar over the smallest fire. If the mass boils before it dissolves, there will be many grains, the coating will lose its specular gloss.
