Caramel Apples (and a Chalkboard)

       

      A very popular fall tradition in my house growing up was making caramel apples. We'd buy the caramels, unwrap them, microwave them, and then dip our apples and enjoy. We would always do this activity as part of our evening when we carved pumpkins for Halloween.
        This weekend at Super Saturday, I learned how to make "real" caramel apples. It's super easy and tastes SO much better than the caramel from the store. Here's what you need:

1 stick of real butter (no margarine)

1 cup of light karo syrup

1 can of sweet and condensed milk

2 cups of brown sugar

2 tsp of Vanilla

      On medium, heat the first four ingredients to a boil. Continue boiling until at 235 degrees (soft ball stage). While it's cooking, get your apples ready. One thing I learned is to wash your apples in a mix of vinegar and water. It takes the wax off the apples that help preserve them. If you don't do this, then the caramel doesn't stick and slides off the apple. After the apples are washed, stab them with a fork or popsicle stick.
     When the caramel is ready, turn off the heat. Add the vanilla. If you do this before the heat is turned off, the vanilla will burn and the caramel tastes funny.
      Turn the pan at a tilt, and stick your apple in it, twisting slowly. When it's covered, raise it up and let it drip. You can take a spatula and wipe off the caramel from the bottom. Next, stick the apple on parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet.
       If you like your caramel apples with just caramel, you're done. You can add other ingredients as well. You can melt white or milk chocolate and drizzle it over the caramel. You can also cover the caramel is chocolate and then dip it in crushed oreos, or cover the apple in white chocolate and dip it in cinnamon and sugar. I think my favorite is the apple drizzled with chocolate and white chocolate.
      The apples will need some time to harden, but as soon as the outside is dry, you can bag the apples individually to take to neighbors or a friend, or you can slice into them and eat them yourself. The nice thing about this recipe though, is that the caramel will stay nice and soft on the apples, even if you eat them a day later. This recipe will make 12-18 apples. Enjoy!

        Oh, and on a side note, I was able to make another craft this week. Remember how I talked about the Habitat for Humanity Restore store? (If you want to read my post on it, click here ) This week I bought a cabinet door and made a chalkboard out of it. All I needed was a little chalkboard paint, regular paint, a few flowers, and the cabinet door. Here's how it turned out. What do you think?