Caramel Apple Slices

​It's confession day on the blog. I am not a big fan of following directions and it is not uncommon for me to ignore them or even throw them away without even reading them first.  (Stop shaking your head, Ben.)  Do not let my blatant disregard for directions in any way indicate to you that I might have a better way to do something.  Quite the contrary really.  I usually ignore them simply because I am too impatient to take the time to sit down and read through them.  (Imagine that.)

​I found an idea for caramel apple bites on pinterst.  The concept was simple: hollow out and apple, fill it with caramel and slice.  Sooooo. .. I went for it.  (Without reading through the directions of course.)  To make a long story short - my attempt to recreate this cute little snack failed miserably and I had to go back and yes, read the directions.  Turns out, there was a little more involved in making the caramel for these bites than I first thought.  The whole process took at least twice as long as it should have because I had to scratch my first batch and remake them all again. Domesticfits.com actually had some really good tips for making these inside out caramel apples successfully.

First - hollow out the inside of an apple with a melon baller.

​Brush the inside with lemon juice.

Caramel sauce
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbs butter
2 tbs light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

​Combine sugar, cream, butter and corn syrup in a saucepan.   

​Bring to a boil.  Cook until candy thermometer registers 230 degrees.  

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

​Let cool 10 - 15 minutes.  Pat inside of apples dry with paper towels.  Pour cooled caramel into shells.  (I found these little ice cream dishes to work really well to keep the apple halves from tipping over in the frig. -  A lesson I learned the hard way.)

​Let chill in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.  Slice.

​This is a genius idea.  (and believe me - I don't take any credit for it)  Finally a caramel apple with a more appropriate caramel to apple ratio AND they are way easier to eat - especially for anyone who might be wearing braces.  

This recipe still needs some perfecting though.  My caramel wasn't quite as smooth as it should have been and even though I used a candy thermometer, I think I should have cooked it a little longer.  After I sliced the apple, some of the caramel oozed out of the bottom.  I also had a little trouble getting the caramel to stick to the inside of the apple.  Maybe I will do a little more research on these little caramel apple bites and get a few more suggestions before I attempt them again.  If you have an ideas for me, PLEASE send them to me.

Ciao!

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