Easiest Candy Apples

Create homemade easy candy apples at home-perfect for fall and Halloween!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword apples, fall, halloween desserts

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings

Calories 347kcal

Author Emma Chapman

Cost $10

Equipment

wooden skewers
saucepan
candy thermometer

Ingredients

8-10 apples
2 cups white sugar
¾ cup water
½ cup corn syrup
½ teaspoon red gel food coloring

Instructions

Prepare you pan: Prepare a sheet pan or parchment paper sprayed with nonstick spray or butter so you’ll be able to remove the apples easily once cooled.
Cook your coating: Add the sugar, water, corn syrup, and food coloring to a saucepan over medium heat. Stir together and bring to a boil with a candy thermometer clipped to your pot (make sure it’s not touching the bottom of the pot or it won’t be an accurate read).
Bring coating up to 300°: Let the mixture boil for about 15-20 minutes until it reaches between 300°-310°. Remove the coating from the heat and allow the bubbles to settle down for a minute until smooth.
Dip your apples: Working quickly, tilt your pan to the side and dip an apple in the coating, swirling the apple to get each side coated. Pull the apple out and let the excess drip off before placing on a sheet pan or parchment paper.
If the candy coating starts to harden before you are done dipping all your apples, put it back on medium heat until it thins out again.
Let cool: Once all your apples are dipped, let the coating harden (it just takes a few minutes) and your apples are ready to eat! Remember, candy apples have a hard sticky coating, so eat with caution!

Notes

NOTE: Remember, this sugar is very hot, so be sure to keep your skin away from the sugar to avoid burns. You can also have a bowl of ice water nearby just in case you make contact with the sugar so you can quickly dip your hand in that, or even use heatproof gloves made for cooking.

How to prepare your apples:

Wash and dry apples: You want to try and remove any wax that’s on the apples so your coating will stick and you can avoid getting annoying bubbles that pop out of the coating.

You can scrub them really well with a clean textured scrubber after rinsing them in hot water and rub them dry with a textured towel to try and remove as much wax as you can, or, some people like to boil water and the dip the apples in the water for about 5 seconds before rubbing dry (longer than 8-10 seconds can start to cook the apples so don’t leave them in too long!).

Make sure the apples are fully dry before dipping as any amount of water will create bubbles in your coating.

Add skewers: Push or tap your skewers halfway into the top of your dried apples and set aside.

Tips for Making

Use organic apples if you can since some companies don’t use wax on their apples so you don’t have to try to remove it. Or use apples from a local orchard that doesn’t wax their apples.
Make sure your sugar reaches the 300° mark or the coating won’t harden and it will be more of a taffy texture.
Try and keep the candy shell thin when you dip; it doesn’t need to be super thick and will be harder to eat.
You can make your candy apples a color other than red if you want! Just remember the color of the apple comes through a bit and may muddle your final color depending on what shade you pick, but purple or black for Halloween is fun!

Nutrition