Toffee Apples

We have some friends over last night for supper.  I made a huge 10 person slow cooked chilli (7 hrs!) which nearly filled my poor little slow cooker to the brim, a little vegan chilli which got polished off by the meat eaters and a ton of rice that I had to cook in a big cast iron casserole dish because even my biggest saucepan wasn’t big enough!

I also made toffee apples from a recipe my mum gave me.  She is the best. 

Ingredients

10 small apples, I used little cox apples

400gr golden caster sugar

1tsp white wine vinegar

4tbsp golden syrup

Method

1, Fill a large bowl with boiling water and carefully place the apples into it.  This will help remove the waxy skins that shop bough apples tend to have and help the toffee coating stick better.  Leave them for five minutes or so before removing them, drying them, twisting off the stalks and leaving them to cool. 

2, Insert a lollipop stick into each one and set aside on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. 

3, In a medium sized saucepan add the sugar and 100 ml of cold water, over a medium heat.  Stir until the sugar has fully dissolved and is no longer grainy.

4, Add in the golden syrup and the vinegar, it might bubble and spit a bit so be careful!

5, Continue to heat the toffee coating, you might have to turn up the heat until it reaches ‘hard crack stage’ or 140o/c on a sugar thermometer. 

6, Remove the pan from the heat, tilt it slightly to one side and dip in one of the apples and twist it round so it is fully coated.  Give it a little shake over the pan to remove the excess and place onto the lined baking sheet. 

7, Repeat with all the apples.  Leave to cool thoroughly before wrapping or eating

(N.B     If the toffee gets a bit thick whilst dipping, pop it back on the heat for until liquidy again.  I had leftover toffee which I reckon could have covered another two apples, but this really depends on the size of your apples!)