The Painted Apron

Party Panache, Caramel Apple Minis

Posted by the Painted Apron on October 5, 2012 · 1 Comment 

This is a fun party food for Fall, who doesn’t love caramel, but caramel apples are impossible to eat.  I studied a lot of different recipes and versions of this before coming up with an easy and fairly quick method.

I used a melon ball scoop to make quick work of forming the mini bites.

This is not only fast, but makes for bites that are uniform in size, which is important for party presentation.

Okay, pay attention here! This is the KEY to success!  The apple bites must be as DRY as possible.  I put them on a towel as I was making them and then wrapped them up in it while I was making the caramel coating.

Place unwrapped caramels in a measuring cup with the cream and corn syrup.

Microwave for 30 sec-1 minute and stir.  Return to microwave for 10 second intervals until just melted, being careful not to scorch candy.

Chop nuts finely [put them in a ziplock and pound them with a rolling pin] and put them in a bowl or pan that has been lined with foil for easy clean up.

Towel dry the mini apple bites thoroughly.  If the apple is too wet the caramel will not adhere. Insert a short wooden skewer into each mini apple, dip in the warm caramel, swirling to coat, and then dredge in the nuts.  Just let the apples sit in the nuts in this pan.

Put the pan into the fridge to harden the caramel before removing the apples from the nuts.  This will prevent the apples from sticking to the cupcake papers.

Place bites into mini cupcake papers for serving

Now they are ready to party!

Here’s the recipe:

MINI CARAMEL APPLES

Easy to eat, mini caramel apple bites on a stick!

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

• Honey Crisp and Granny Smith apples [each apple makes 8-10]
• Mini Caramel Apples
• 20 caramels
• 1 T light corn syrup
• 1-2 T heavy cream
• 1 cup dry roasted peanuts*
• wooden skewers
• mini cupcake papers

Instructions

 

• Cut ball shapes out of the apples with a melon baller.
• Place into a clean dry towel.
• Chop nuts finely by placing into a ziplock and crushing with a rolling pin.
• Put nuts into a foil lined pan.
• Unwrap caramels and place in a microwave safe bowl. Add cream and corn syrup. Microwave for 30-60 seconds, checking and stirring until just melted, returning to microwave at 10 second intervals.
• When caramel is ready, make sure apples are as dry as possible, insert skewer, dip into candy then roll in nuts, leaving the apples to set in the pan.
• Place pan in fridge to chill coating.
• When apples are chilled carefully place each bite into a mini cupcake paper and put on a tray for serving.
• Makes 20-24 mini apples.

Notes

This can’t be made too far in advance because the apples retain so much moisture, so try to make them right before your party.

*substitute any nuts you want instead of dry roasted peanuts if desired