The perfect shiny red candy apples have a super thin layer of sweet candy coating with no bubbles and the perfect amount of cinnamon flavor. Not only is making your own candy apples from scratch incredibly easy (compared to unwrapping 100's of cinnamon candies and melting them) you won't believe how good they taste! Read on for all my tips and tricks for perfectly shiny and sparkly homemade candy apples.
This perfect candy apple recipe is exactly what you need to wow at your next Halloween party or if you've had many fails before, this recipe will fix all your problems!
What's In This Blog Post
- Candy Apple Ingredients & Equipment Needed
- How To Make Candy Apples Step By Step
- What Ingredients Were Used To Make The First Candy Apple?
- Candy Apple FAQ
Candy Apple Ingredients & Equipment Needed
Candy Thermometer - The most important thing for this candy apple recipe is to use a candy thermometer to ensure you cook your sugar all the way to the hard crack stage. You can check your sugar the old fashioned way but its a risk and trust me you don't want to do all the work of boiling sugar only for it to fail.
Wooden Sticks - If you don't have any you can make your own by cutting a ¼" dowel into 5" long pieces and sharpening one end with a pencil sharpener or even use popsicle sticks or wooden skewers.
Silicone Mat - If you don't have a silicone mat you can use a sheet of aluminum foil to rest your candy apples on.
Light Corn Syrup - Corn syrup in this recipe keeps the candy from crystalizing and makes it extra shiny! If you don't have any corn syrup you can use glucose or just replace the corn syrup with more white sugar equal in weight.
Food Coloring - This is a must if you want the best candy apples that are a beautiful red color! You can use liquid or gel food coloring.
Edible Glitter - This is absolutely optional but you can get edible glitter at most craft stores like michales or JoAnn fabrics.Crisp Apples - I think the only way to make a true great candy apple is to use green granny smith apples. They are tart and not sweet and go perfectly with the sweetness of the cinnamon sugar coating.
Cinnamon Candy - I'm using cinnamon candy in my recipe because I could not find any cinnamon extract ANYWHERE! Maybe there is a shortage? If you don't have cinnamon candy, you can use ¼ teaspoon cinnamon extract instead or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon which tastes SO GOOD but does leave some specs in the finish of the candy apple. If you're feeling really bougie, try adding a little nutmeg, clove, or pumpkin spice! Yum!
How To Make Candy Apples Step-By-Step
Making candy apples is really a two-day process. Not because it takes a long time but it's just easier. So here's my process.
Day 1
- WASH THEM APPLES! And I mean like wash them really really well. Apples come with this wax coating that causes annoying bubbles to appear under the sugar. The best way to wash your apples is to scrub every inch of them in hot hot water with a paper towel or to even heat some water until it just starts to steam (not boil) and dunk your apples in the water for 1 minute. Rose Bakes says to add some baking soda to the water too. Rotate them with a spoon to make sure you submerge the whole apple.
note* It will brown the apples but once you dip them in sugar, you won't be able to tell.
- Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and dry them well with paper towels and store the apples in the fridge overnight. Don't worry about removing the stems yet. Cold apples are the best apples for dipping.
- You CAN dip the apples right away but you risk getting bubbles from leftover water on the apples so make sure you dry them really really well, especially the top and bottom.
Day 2
- Gather all your pre-measured ingredients for the candy apples so you are prepared and not rushed.
- Place a silicone mat or a sheet of tinfoil sprayed with a little cooking spray onto a sheet pan for the dippled apples to go on.
- Keep a bowl of ice water nearby and wear some gloves for protection against hot sugar drips! If you do happen to get some sugar on your hand, you can quickly remove the glove and the sugar will come with it instead of burning your hand or you can quickly dip your hand in the ice water to harden the sugar and stop it from burning.
- Remove the stems from your apples and insert the sticks. Make sure the apple is sitting on the work surface and then push the stick in, this will ensure your sticks are straight up and down.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar, syrup, and water, and then mix it gently with a wooden spoon to combine.
- Bring the sugar mixture to a boil over medium-high heat with the lid on the saucepan. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. This ensures all the sugar dissolves and your mixture does not crystalize.
- Remove the lid and add in your cinnamon candies and your candy thermometer.
- Over medium heat, without any further stirring begin to heat the sugar mixture until it reaches 300ºF. The candy cooks slowly so it could take up to 30 minutes to reach this temperature. It could take more or less time, keep a close eye on your thermometer. Be patient, it will get there. You might notice your temperature hangs out for a while at 250ºF and that is normal because the water is still evaporating. Once all the water is gone, the temp will begin to rise again.
- Once your sugar has reached 300ºF, remove the pan from the heat. This is when you will add your food coloring and your edible glitter (if you want).
- Let the candy cool slightly to about 270-280ºF before dipping your apples.
- Now you can tilt the saucepan and roll your apples in the hot sugar to coat them. You only need a thin coat!
- Lift the apple out and let the excess drip off. I even scrape the bottom of mine a bit on the edge of the pot so I don't get a bunch of excess sugar pooling around the bottom of the apple.
- Place the apple onto the silicone mat and in about 10-15 minutes your candy apples will be ready to enjoy! So yummy!
Can you believe how GORGEOUS these candy apples turned out? So so shiny and really tasty! If you've never had a candy apple before, give it a try! You might be surprised how good they are. The perfect combination of a little tart and a little sweet with a little crunch! Definitely my favorite homemade dessert for the fall season.
What Ingredients Were Used To Make The First Candy Apple?
Candy Apple FAQ
When your sugar is cooked to 300ºF the candy should harden fully within 10 minutes and be ready to eat.
The sugar coating your candy apples will get sticky over time as they absorb moisture from the air. The other thing could be that you didn't cook the sugar to 300ºF.
Make sure you wash your apples really well to remove all the wax from the surface of the apples, dry them really well and dip them the day after you wash them.
You can add any type of food coloring to your sugar mixture. For more opaque colors, add a couple of drops of white food coloring as well.
Yes, its very easy to add extracts or candy flavoring to candy apple sugar.
It's best to store candy apples in the fridge and enjoy them within 24-48 hours of making them.
The candy is very hard and although you COULD bite into it, it's much easier to slice it first then enjoy.
Candy apples are covered in hard candy, flavored with cinnamon. But where did they come from? I did some digging and found out that candymaker William W. Kolb is credited with inventing the first candy apple in Newark, New Jersey in 1908. His candies were made with sugar, corn syrup, red food coloring, and powdered cinnamon.
Kolb was looking for ways to sell his cinnamon candy during Christmas but no one was buying. He decided to showcase his cinnamon candy by dipping green apples into the cinnamon candy and placing them in his window display.
The bad news is no one wanted to buy his cinnamon candies but they were crazy for is candy apples! Candy apples quickly became very popular as not only a Christmas treat but also became popular to give out to trick-or-treaters during Halloween. They remained popular treats until the 1970s where old wives' tales began to circulate about blades or needles being placed into apples.
If you've ever actually bitten into a candy apple then you know that sugar is very sharp! So my theory is some kid actually cut their mouth on the sugar because no actual recorded reports of razor blades or needles found in candy apples have ever been found. For this reason, I always cut my candy apple into slices to eat it instead of biting into the hard candy.
Recipe
Equipment
- heavy bottom saucepan
- Candy Thermometer
- silicone mat
- clean pastry brush
- Apple skewers
- nitrile gloves (optional for precaution while dipping)
Ingredients
- 8-10 small granny smith apples
- 30 ounces granulated sugar
- 12 ounces water
- 6 ounces corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon food coloring, optional
- 8 ounces cinnamon hard candy
- ¼ teaspoon flash dust optional
Instructions
- Soak your apples in very hot/boiling water for 10-15 seconds to melt wax coating off the skins. Rub and dry your apples well, placing them in the fridge to chill and dry overnight (or at least a few hours). Cold apples make for better candy apples.
- Remove the stems from the apples.
- Before you begin cooking the sugar, secure sticks into apples. Make sure the apple is sitting on the work surface and then push the stick in, this will ensure your sticks are straight up and down. Place the apples onto a sheet pan with a silicone mat on top and store them in the fridge until you're ready to dip them. (You can also use a sheet of aluminum foil greased with oil if you don't have a silicone mat.)
- In a heavy bottom saucepan, combine the sugar, syrup, and water. Mix gently to combine with a wooden spoon.
- Once the mixture begins to boil, cover the mixture with a lid for 5 minutes to ensure the sugar is all dissolved.
- After 5 minutes, remove the lid and wash down the sides of the pan with a clean pastry brush and water. This removes sugar crystals that could cause your candy to crystalize while it's cooking.
- Attach your candy thermometer to the pot and add in your cinnamon candy if you wish. If you're using extracts or food coloring, add it later when the sugar reaches 280ºF so the flavor and color don't cook out.
- Over medium-high heat, continue cooking the sugar until it reaches 300ºF without any further stirring. This could take up to 30 minutes to reach this temperature. It could take more or less time, keep a close eye on your thermometer. Be patient, it will get there.
- Once your sugar has reached 300ºF, remove the pan from the heat. Stir gently and let the candy cool slightly, to 280ºF so the bubbling calms down, or you will get bubbles in your apples.
- Using a hot pad, hold your pan at an angle and being to gently roll your apple into the candy. The less time the apple spends in the candy the thinner the coating will be on the apple. Try to dip your apple deep enough that the candy coats almost to the core, this will prevent it from sliding off your apple.
- Let the excess candy drip off of the apple before placing it on your silicone mat to cool completely.
- If your candy starts to get too thick, you can re-heat it on the stovetop for a few minutes until it's liquid again.
- Pour the leftover candy into silicone molds to use later or make little hard candies!
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