Along with the good old hearty, comforting stews and chillis on these colder evenings, Autumn is the time for TOFFEE APPLES!! I'm sure we all have fond memories as children reminiscing eating toffee apples around the bonfire and experiencing that first crunch of the sweet delicious toffee that emcompases the juicy green apple- confusingly, both healthy and unhealthy in equal measures. As well as being delicious, they are also lots of fun to make, so we thought it would be fun to share our recipe with you.
Enjoy (but please take care if children are helping as the sugar gets really hot and will burn!!!)
Ingredients
10 apples (I used good old British coxes)
400g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vinegar
4 tbsp golden syrup
Red food colouring (amount depends on how red you want them)
Method
Place the apples in a bowl and pour boiling water over them and leave for about a minute (this will remove their waxy coating and help the toffee to stick)
Dry and push a wooden lolly stick into the top of the apple
Get a piece of baking parchment paper laid on top of a baking sheet ready for once the apples are ready
Tip sugar into a pan and add 100mls water and set over a medium heat (not too hot as the toffee will burn)
Cook for 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves, then stir in the vinegar, syrup and food coloring
If you have a sugar thermometer the syrup need to boil to 150C or 'hard crack' stage. If you don’t have a thermometer you can test the toffee by pouring a little into a bowl of cold water. It should harden instantly and, when removed, be brittle and easy to break. If you can still squish the toffee, continue to boil it.
Once it’s reached temperature dip each apple into the toffee until the whole apple is coated, let any excess drip away and place on baking parchment to set. You may have to re-heat the toffee if the temperature drops and it starts to feel thicker. Leave the toffee to cool before eating. Can be made up to 2 days in advance (although best on day of making!!) and stored in a dry place.
