Apple Pie Caramel Apples

I made these a couple of years ago for a Monday Match up post. Remember those Erica? Oh good times. Anyway, I figured they needed a post of their very own. They are just too dang good.

I learned this technique from my good friend Michelle. We used to make hundreds of them for a fund raiser for our Special Education class. They were a hit. I love the tart and sweet together. Yum! They are a perfect Fall treat and great for a party or for a family get together. My kids had a ball helping out and they taste so yummy. Give them a try!

Apple Pie Caramel Apples

5 Granny Smith Apples (the tartness of these balances perfectly with the sweet coating)

1 pkg. caramels

White Chocolate or White Almond Bark or White Candy Melts (any will work)

Cinnamon/Sugar Mixture

5 Popsicle Sticks

If you want to make a ton of these you can usually find a huge brick of caramel at food supply stores. Those in Utah can find them at Orson Gygi or Kitchen Kneads in West Jordan. Kraft also makes Caramel Bits in a bag by the chocolate chips. These are nice because there is no unwrapping of caramels. I bought a bag of wrapped caramel because they were cheaper and they had the sticks with them. Any of these work.

As far as the white coating, I have used the white candy melts with great success. They were thin enough to give the apple a nice coating. With these I had some white almond bark leftover so I used that. It was a little thick and even when I thinned it, it still gave the apple a pretty thick coating. No problem for me for a family treat, but I would want it a touch thinner if I was presenting them somewhere. I haven't tried the plain white chocolate. I'm sure it would work just fine too.

So, wash the apples really well and dry completely. It is best if your apples are at room temp. I took mine out of the fridge ready to get started and had to wait a few hours because they were "sweating". If you dip them while they are wet your caramel will just fall right off. Not good. Take the stems out and insert the sticks. Next, melt the caramel. I did mine in the microwave but you can do it on the stove top too. Dip your apples and coat thoroughly. Hold the apple over the bowl and let it drip. Place on a sprayed piece of parchment. This works the best, I promise. Do all your apples, reheating the caramel if needed. Let sit until completely set. For a nicer looking apple, use kitched shears to trim off any excess caramel on the bottom.

Next melt your white candy melts, also done in the microwave. Dip each apple the same as the caramel and immediately sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Let sit till set. We like to cut these in pieces. Enjoy!

Love,

Monica 

 

Repost-Thanksgiving Salads

Just reading this post made my mouth water.  These have to be my favorite sweet salads at Thanksgiving dinner.  Give them a try.  You will be SO happy you did!

Are you ready for the big day? What do you have planned?  We'd love to hear what everyone is up to for the big day.  Have a great Wednesday!!

First published on November 8, 2010
This week we are doing a sweet salad that we would find at our families Thanksgiving table.  We each chose our favorite, and it turned out being the same thing.  So, the SWEET sister that I am, let Monica make it.  :o)  I picked my second favorite, and I am so happy that I did.  It's so tasty and taking the first bite of it reminded me of my Grandma's on Thanksgiving day.  Made me sad and happy at the same time.  This will be our second year without Grandma on Thanksgiving and my first year not spending at least part of the day at her home with the rest of my family.  Anyhoo...enough of the sad story.  I'm so grateful to my Grandma and Auntie and their awesome recipes, for handing them down to us kids.  And I hope our kids will want to keep them at our Thanksgiving table for years to come.

I chose to do Grandma's 7-Up Salad.  I don't know where it came from, but I can remember eating this stuff from when I was little.  Grandma wrote down this recipe for me a couple years ago.  It's so funny, because with most the recipes she wrote down for me, she would usually leave an ingredient out or be wrong on 1 or 2 of the measurements.  So the recipe I have wrote down is quite confusing with lots of crossed out things and scribbles, but it turned out just like I remembered it.  I was thinking of re-writing the recipe for my personal binder, but I think I will keep it just the way it is.  Will bring a smile to my face every time.

Here's the recipe~

2 small packages of Lemon Jell-O
2 c. boiling water
2 c. 7-Up
2 c. crushed pineapple, drained (keep the juice!)
3 bananas, cut up
1 1/2 c. mini marshmallows

Dissolve the jell-o in the boiling water, then add the 7-Up.  Pour into a 13x9 dish.  Refridgerate until syrupy.  I timed and it took a little less than an hour.  Add your pineapple, bananas, and marshmallows to jell-o and refridgerate til set.  Top with the following cream...OH SO YUMMY!  I could eat it all by itself.

2 eggs, beaten
4 Tbsp butter
3/4 c. pineapple juice
1 c. sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 pint heavy whipping cream

Put eggs, butter, juice, sugar, and flour in a sauce pan and heat on med-high heat whisking the entire time until thick.  Take off heat and let cool.  Once cool, whip the heavy cream til stiff peaks form.  Fold the two together and top the Jell-O.  Refridgerate until ready to serve and ENJOY!

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Oh Thanksgiving. It's so dear to my heart. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday hands down. There is nothing better to me than spending a day with people I love cooking, baking, and just being together. I feel nothing but joy when I think of Thanksgivings past. It's just a really happy time for me. I'm excited to share some of that with you this month.

Yes, Erica was nice and let me do our favorite sweet Thanksgiving salad. This one is actually relatively new. My Auntie Linda introduced it to the family within the last 10 years. We loved it and we have had it every year since. I have shared it with others and made it for many holiday parties. Whip it up and share. It's delish.

Cranberry Salad
1 lb. fresh cranberries
1- 15 oz. can crushed pinepple drained (I added a bit of the juice, mostly by accident but it worked) :)
1 cup sugar
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 lb. bag of mini marshmallows (I used a 10 oz. bag and it was fine)

Grind cranberries until finely chopped. (I use my food processor for this. It's very quick.) Add sugar and pineapple and chill for 1 hour. Whip cream and add marshmallows. Fold cream and mallows into the cranberry mixture and chill overnight. This is such a pretty dish. Definitely festive for the holidays.

Oh yum. Thanks Auntie for this family favorite. :)

Have a happy Monday!

Ginger and Molasses Cupcakes (MSC)

It's time for another Martha Stewart Cupcake. This month the cupcake was chosen by Beurrista. I love the taste of Gingerbread. It's one of those tastes that take me back to being a child. When I was little my Aunt Linda came to stay with us while my dad was deployed somewhere. It must have been the Holiday season because she wanted to make real gingerbread houses. She mixed up the dough and we cut out the shapes and baked them up. The smell alone is amazing. I honestly don't remember how the houses turned out but I remember feeling happy and excited. I love my Auntie for those memories.

This cupcake really does have the taste and flavor of a spicy gingerbread. The cupcake had a nice crumb. They baked up with a flat top that went a bit over the edge of the pan. I actually loved that. The edges were sweet and crispy. I sent my husband to the store to get my ginger root and whipping cream. I put 9 oz. on the list but he only brought me 3 oz. Who knows. So I supplemented with some ginger powder and I think they tasted great. I can't imagine adding 6 more ounces. I bet Martha's are pretty spicy. Instead of whipping cream he brought me Redi-whip. I know, right? Silly guy. Oh well, all in all these are a tasty Holiday cupcake.

You can find the recipe HERE.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Sugar Cookies

I've been wanting to make sugar cookies for awhile. Halloween came and went so on to the next Holiday right? That's what is so wonderful about sugar cookies is the fact you can make them anytime of year. I know there are a million sugar cookie recipes out there but this one is my favorite. I discovered this recipe years ago while teaching special education in Logan. My students would make these and sell them at the school store. It is a soft sugar cookie. The best kind. Plus they are really quick to whip up. You just need to refridgerate them for a few hours. So it's best to do them at night for the following day or first thing in the morning for the afternoon.

Erica posted this recipe last Fall. You can find it here.

This is a big cookie. Super soft and yummy. I used a butter knife to spread the orange frosting, then a pastry bag with Wilton tip # to make the stem and leaves.

This is a variation on a cookie done by Pillsbury. I couldn't find candy corn at my local grocer. Seriously. So I used sour patch kids. I love sour patch kids but my kids pick them off. I also used mini M&Ms for the eyes and then Wilton tip #4 to pipe the beak and feet. Quick, easy, and cute!

Sugar cookies are so fun to give away. Put this on your to do list to do with the kids sometime this Holiday season. Have a great Thursday!