A Candy Apple Kind of Love

*sigh* Fair/Festival season is long over. And so I must bid farewell to my favorite time of year. Merchants selling their cheap crap, the smell of over-priced food permeating through the air, and fresh cotton candy on a stick. It doesn't matter how many times I walk the same midway, I love it more and more. My boyfriend, Colin, is a sweetheart and will bear the shoulder to shoulder crowds to avoid the impending hissy fit I throw should I miss the fair. He also stands it for the love of his Grandma Ann.

Grandma Ann's material loves are pretty straightforward: cooking, Jeopardy!, and candy apples. And one out of four seasons of the year, Colin and I can hit the trifecta. We go to the fair, spend only enough money to satisfy the grease craving, buy a few granny smith candy apples, go to Grandma Ann's and eat a home-cooked meal as we watch Jeopardy! and she eats her candy apple.

Now that fair season is over, I think Grandma Ann is feeling the depression creeping in, too. I was recently told that Grandma Ann had a discussion with Colin in which my love for him came into question. Her words, as quoted to me by Colin, were, "If Andrea really loved you, she would learn how to make candy apples." I looked at Grandma Ann over the steak dinner we were enjoying as Colin recanted the tale. A knowing smirk on her lips. Game on, Grandma Ann. Game on.

Tips for making candy:

- Do not make candy when the weather is humid.

- Use extreme caution. Boiling sugar is dangerous!

- Do not allow crystals to form on your pan. It will cause the entire pan of sugar to crystallize, and you'll be left with a gritty mess.

  ^I was having too much fun with the excess candy (>.<) 

Candy Apple Love

Makes 4-5 candy apples

Ingredients:

4-5 Granny Smith apples

1 c. sugar

½ c. light corn syrup

¼ c. hot water

¼ c. crushed Red Hots candies

Tools:

4-5 popsicle sticks

Silicone mat
Zip top baggie
Hammer/ Meat tenderizer/ Food processor

Small saucepan

Candy thermometer

Heat safe spatula

Heat safe pastry brush

Directions:

Wash and dry the apples. Twist off the stems and insert popsicle sticks.

Put Red Hot candies in a zip top bag. Close the bag and crush the crap out of those little red gems!

You could use a food processor instead, but who couldn't use a little stress relief?

In a small saucepan, combine water, corn syrup, and sugar over medium-high heat.

Stir until sugar dissolves.

Sugar grit is evil.

Occasionally wash down the sides of the saucepan with a wet pastry brush to avoid crystallization. 

Continue to cook without stirring until a candy thermometer inserted in the syrup reads 250°. Be patient. This will happen slowly.

Add Red Hots candies and stir just to incorporate.

Continue to cook without stirring, washing down the sides as needed, until temperature reaches 285°. Watch the thermometer carefully. Unlike the last 250°, this will happen quickly.

Remove from heat and stir candy until it is smooth and even.

Hold an apple by the stick and dip it in the candy. You may tilt the pan at an angle and rotate the apple to cover it completely. Twist apple by the stick to shake off excess candy. Set on silicone mat. Quickly finish dipping the rest of the apples. If you have extra candy, pour into a silicone mold or on to your silicone mat to make little hard candies.

Allow to cool to room temperature before eating*. 

*My test monkey (AKA Jordan) and I didn't wait until it was room temperature. We just waited long enough for the candy to harden and cool enough that molten sugar wasn't going to burn the flesh off our mouths. I have to admit, it was pretty tasty with the warm apple and cinnamon-ny spiciness. Grandma Ann loved them almost as much as I love her grandson.  <3

Recipe adjusted from this original.