Saturday, October 23, 2010

Fall Rituals

I'll admit it - I am a complete romantic.  I love the start of each new season and all of the rituals that have been passed down through the generations.  When spring arrives, I put up linen curtains, air feather beds and cook meals with asparagus, during the summer I roll up wool carpets, throw up the big door and start adding BLT's to our dinner menu, and in the fall, I re-dress the door, rearrange the furniture and make caramel apples.

The kids had fun seeing the original apple wraps,
however, we wanted to dip our own apples
When I was a little girl, my mom would buy those handy little apple wraps.  It was so exciting to get apples and cover them with a layer of caramel and sink my teeth into them that I wanted to share the experience with my kids.  I couldn't find apple wraps when my kids were little, so I tried, for many years, to perfect real caramel apples.  I tried every caramel recipe I could get my hands on.  Some was so runny, it wouldn't stick to the apples, some got so hard you couldn't bite into it, some just didn't have very good flavor.  Finally, I came across a caramel recipe that I love!  It is great for anything that needs caramel. I use it for caramel apples, the caramel layer in turtles and just plain old caramel candies.  I have found that the temperature is one of the most important aspects of caramel making.  A few degrees one way or the other renders the candy too hard or to soft.  I do adjust the temperature depending on what I am making.

Here is my favorite caramel recipe:

The BEST Caramel

1 C Butter
2 C Brown Sugar
1 C Corn Syrup
1 14oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tsp. Vanilla

  1. In saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and milk; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
  2. Cook and stir constantly until mixture reaches 248 degrees, about 30 to 40 minutes.
  3. Remove from heat; stir in Vanilla.
  4. Pour into buttered pan to cool.
  5. Cut into squares and wrap in waxed paper.


For Caramel Apples

  1. Insert wooden sticks into 8 - 10 apples
  2. Dip each apple into slightly cooled caramel mixture, turn to coat.
  3. Set on buttered, sugared wax paper to cool.


Mixing all the ingredients but the vanilla
Its starting to look like caramel!

Adding the Vanilla
Dipping the first apple (yes, we used twigs
instead of popsicle sticks)
Look at that caramel!
And the finished product

Happy Fall!

13 comments:

  1. thanks, I just gained a pound reading your blog. lol

    ken

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  2. wow, that brings back memories! My boys have been in braces /retainers for the last 8 years ( 4 years each) . I have not made them for so long! Your's look beatiful....now that they are both "out" I think I'll have to try making apples again.

    Tina

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  3. Save the Canning JarsOctober 24, 2010 at 7:43 AM

    Beautiful! Another one of your great recipes for my home made 3 ring binder cookbook!

    As always, thank you for sharing!

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  4. You've made my day! I love caramel anything, but caramel apples are the epitome of good fall memories. I'm printing this recipe and going to the kitchen to make some, right now.

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  5. Still waiting for the publication date of your cookbook. :-)

    NoCal Gal

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  6. Oh my goodness ~ heaven! Caramel apples are my favorite, as well. They just say "autumn" like nothing else, and although I've been trying to deny that summer is over, it's time to embrace fall AND some of those apples! Thanks for the recipe :)
    Lisa/dragonfly.garden

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  7. i love caramel apples...now if i did not have dentures i would be making a batch right now.

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  8. My caramel apples came out yummy! Not as pretty as yours but they still tasted good. Thanks for the great recipe that doesn't use the packaged caramels.

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  9. Oh, I just love these ... the homemade caramel and the twigs :) ! Hope you don't mind if I post a link to this for this week's Feelin' Crafty at HomesteadBlogger? Might I also borrow that first photo for the post, giving you photo credit, of course?!
    Blessings,
    Catherine

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  10. Catherine;

    Of course you can borrow the post and the photo! They are wonderful. See you at HomesteadBlogger!

    Enola Gay

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  11. I Love caramel. Dd and I are actually Milk Dud fanatics. Your recipe looks like a winner. Thanks for posting!

    Amanda <><
    Matthew 6:33

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  12. Just made these with the family and talk about yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

    Nina

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  13. (from my 12-yr-old son) I like the twigs but i would put rope handles on them an make them and make them permanent.

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