Homemade Caramel Apples

We don't do the Halloween thing much (too much candy for the Keto diet, too many nightmares for the little ones) but I thought it would be fun to have a little autumnal feast. 

Caramel...not that hard to make but it takes focus. 

Caramel is always made out of sugar (white or brown). It often has butter or cream in it as well. 

I took 2 recipes, one from Rose Levy-Beranbaum and one from Cooks.com, and mixed them up a little depending on what I had at hand. 

My Recipe:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup butter

a swig of lemon juice (an acid stabilizes the sugar crystal so it isn't grainy)

I heated this on the stove, mixing constantly until it started to foam (btw sugar gets REALLY hot, please be careful). It foams for a long time. When it starts to brown lightly I turn the stove down to check the color and the temp (@240 F). You can also check the stage (soft ball) by dripping a little in a cup of cool water. If it forms a soft ball it has reached this stage. The next stage it forms a hard line (or whatever shape you make) instead of balling up. 

At this point you should be stirring. You don't want this to burn. It can also go through this stage very quickly and be very hard to coat anything. Don't get distracted and go start laundry or talk to your spouse. I overcooked my first batch (D. made hard caramels out if it). 

While I was waiting I heated 

1/2 cup of cream

 in a measuring cup. It should be warm/hot. At this point I stirred it right in. If the cream is considerably cooler then the sugar it will foam up a bit when you do. 

Everything should be ready at this point. The caramel can set quickly. If you want nuts, chocolate, or other coats all ready. 

Leftover caramel can be poured onto a sheet of buttered wax paper. A light coating of salt will really make this just perfect. Cool in the fridge and cut into pieces if you like. Or eat some apples. 

The boys loved them. D. and I loved the dip (once you have this salted caramel you'll never go back to supermarket dip), and I think I've found a new Christmas candy recipe!