"It's the company, not the cooking, that makes the meal!" ~Perilee 
(Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson)



Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Crock Pot Caramel Apples

Every year I remember my mom making three things around Halloween or on Halloween night-Homemade chili, breadsticks, and caramel apples. She always makes hers from scratch and so did I until I tried this simple crock pot method. Nothing tops homemade caramel, but this recipe wins my heart because it was so kid friendly and the boys could work with the caramel and learn to dip them because the caramel was the perfect temperature.

Crock Pot Caramel Apples

Ingredients:

2 packages (14oz each) caramels

1/4 cup water

8 medium apples, such as McIntosh, Gala, or Fuji

sticks for apples


In slow cooker, combine caramels and water. Cover and cook on high for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until caramels are melted, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile, line a baking pan with wax paper; butter the paper.

Wash and dry the apples. Insert a stick into stem end of each apple. Reduce crockpot heat to LOW.


Note: If the caramel does happen to scorch, put it through a mesh strainer and discard any dark particles. Put the sauce into a saucepan or back into the cleaned slow cooker and keep warm while you dip the apples.

Dip apple into hot caramel; turn to coat entire surface. Holding apple above pot, scrape off excess accumulation of caramel from bottom apple.
Place coated apples on prepared wax paper in pan. As you near the bottom of the pot, use a spoon to spoon hot caramel over apples. Put the pan of coated apples in the refrigerator to set thoroughly. Use caution if children are helping; the crockpot will probably be quite hot to the touch and the caramel could scald.

Makes 8 caramel apples-med to large in size. (I got almost 20 *small apples) *If I can get this size of apples again I will always use them. They were the perfect size for eating without getting the caramel all over your face. I also didn't feel bad about allowing my kids to eat the entire apple.

I will have to post my mom's caramel apple recipe later.

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