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Gourmet Caramel Apples

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Cassi is going to be soooo jealous when she reads this post! These Gourmet Caramel Apples are one of her favorite Halloween treats, and she is not here to enjoy them. Maybe next year, you never know. I don’t remember if caramel apples were in the Harry Potter books or not, but I do seem to remember seeing them in the movies…so I had to make them for my party…..

Three Caramel Apples on a silver tray with Harry Potter books in the background

I called them Gourmet Caramel Apples because you can make them as fancy as you like, and they are drenched in chocolate! This is the same caramel recipe that I used to make the Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Wands, and Chocolate Frogs. This recipe makes quite a lot of caramel, so you will find yourself digging through your pantry searching for things to dunk into it! 😉

Four caramel apples on white parchment paper, each with different toppings

How do you make Gourmet Caramel Apples?

Heat butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk in a heavy saucepan over Medium-High heat…..

Caramel ingredients cooking in a pan

Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking and stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 248 degrees, about 30 minutes…..

Caramel simmering in a pan with a candy thermometer

Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla…..

Caramel in the pan with vanilla added

Place a stick {wooden popsicle sticks, Wilton plastic branch sticks, etc} into the center of each apple and dip into caramel, turning to completely coat…..

An apple with a stick in the center being dipped into the hot caramel

Allow excess to drip off the apple, using a spoon to wipe off if necessary…..

Caramel dripping off of the apple

Place on silpat/parchment paper and allow to cool, about 2 to 3 hours…..

Four caramel dipped apples cooling on a silicone liner

I prefer the silpat over the parchment paper, but they both work. Place chocolate in a large bowl and heat in the microwave for 1 minute on HIGH. Stir, then continue cooking and stirring in 15 second intervals until chocolate is melted and smooth…..

Melted Chocolate in a large bowl

Dip caramel covered apples in the melted chocolate, turning to coat….or use a large spoon to drizzle over the caramel covered apple…..

Gourmet Caramel Apples drizzled with melted chocolate

Set on silpat or parchment paper to set. Before chocolate hardens, roll in your desired toppings, like chopped pecans for Turtle Caramel Apples…..

Gourmet Caramel Apples dipped in caramel and melted chocolate then rolled in chopped pecans

or crushed OREOS if you’re Cassi…..

Gourmet Caramel Apples are dipped in crushed chocolate cookie crumbs

Halloween sprinkles like the image at the top, or Fall sprinkles if they are not for Halloween…..

Gourmet Caramel Apples coated in caramel, melted chocolate, and topped with fall colored sprinkles

Quick note about tempering chocolate…I have never done it! lol  I could not figure out why the caramel apples did not “spot” as they cooled, but the Chocolate Caramel Pretzels did??? The caramel apples are covered in melted Hershey Kisses®, which have already been tempered. It was the only milk chocolate that I had in the house. 😉  The pretzel wands were covered in melted bittersweet chocolate chips, because I wanted to try them.

Next time I will Google tempered chocolate and try to make them the correct way, or use melted candy bars!!

More fun recipes for your next Harry Potter Party :

Harry Potter Party Food Collage

Enjoy!!

These Gourmet Caramel Apples are the perfect treat for your next Harry Potter Party! cookingwithcurls.com

Gourmet Caramel Apples

Gourmet Caramel Apples are a classic Fall treat that can be decorated to fit any occasion! 
5 from 1 vote
Print Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: caramel, apples, fall, party food
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Author: Lisa Johnson

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 cups brown sugar (packed)
  • 1 cup light corn syrup
  • 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 10 ounces chocolate (milk and/or dark)
  • 12 large apples (cleaned and dried)
  • nuts, crushed oreos, chopped pecans

Instructions

  • Heat butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk in a heavy saucepan over Medium-High heat.
  • Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking and stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 248 degrees, about 30 minutes.
  • Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla.
  • Place a stick into each apple and dip into caramel, turning to completely coat.
  • Allow excess to drip off, using a spoon if necessary, then place on parchment paper to set, about 2 to 3 hours.
  • Place chocolate in a large bowl and heat in the microwave for 1 minute on HIGH. Stir, then continue cooking and stirring in 15 second intervals until chocolate is melted and smooth.
  • Dip caramel covered apples in the melted chocolate, using a large spoon to cover all sides, or simply drizzle over the top.
  • Place on parchment paper to set. Sprinkle with toppings as chocolate begins to harden, but is still sticky.

Notes

You may have more caramel than you need, so grab some pretzel rods or candy molds and additional chocolate for the leftovers.
Chocolate will begin to spot/turn grey over time if chocolate is not tempered correctly.  It will not affect the taste, just the appearance.

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23 Comments

  1. Caramel apples are one of my favorite things about Fall! Yummy – and I love Cassi’s idea with the Oreos! 😉 Pinning and stumbling!

  2. Lisa these are wonderful! I love all the different options you included! I wouldn’t know which one to have, I would have to have them all. Your Harry Potter treats are all so fun, we always do a fun Harry Potter night with the kids when we watch the movies, I’m definitely going to have to hit up your site for the next HP night! Hope you’re having a wonderful week 🙂

  3. Your caramel apples look fantastic! I saw this over on the Wednesday Roundup and I would love to invite you to share this (and anything else you’d like!) over on the Pure Blog Love link party

  4. Those look amazing! There’s a store at my local mall that sells apples like that and they charge like $5 each. My daughters are always begging me to let them get one. So I am going to have to make these with my girls this fall.

    Your Harry Potter party sounds like so much fun. Now I need to go back and read the rest of those posts.

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