Recipe: 2 Caramel Apples, Cinnamon Apples, Red Candied Apples

20 small apples
20 chopsticks or bamboo skewers
4 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups water
3 t whole cloves

Line 2 large baking sheets with waxed paper or heavily buttered foil. Remove stems from apples. Insert 1
chopstick or skewer into stem end. Stir 2 cups sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup water and 1 1/2 t cloves in
heavy medium saucepan over low heat till sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil without stirring until
candy thermometer registers 285F (soft-crack stage), about 20 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
Immediately dip 1 apple in caramel, coating completely and allowing excess drip back in pan. Stand apple
on prepared sheet. Repeat with 9 more apples.
Make caramel again in clean saucepan with remaining ingredients. Dip remaining apples.
Note 1: This makes a crunchy caramel coating.
Note 2: Pans can be cleaned easily by soaking in water.

Caramel Apples

2 cups sugar
1 c. sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 c. Karo corn syrup
1/2 stick (1/4 c.) butter
2 t. vanilla

Combine sugar, milk, cream, and corn syrup in a tall pot over medium-high heat. Stir till combined and
bubbling. Add butter. Continue to stir frequently, scraping bottom of pot, till mixture darkens a bit. Add
vanilla. Cook until mixture reaches 260 on a candy thermometer--hard ball stage--or until mixture forms a
firm ball when dropped in ice water. Dip apples (red delicious) and place on waxed paper lined cookie
sheet. (You can keep pot over simmering water to keep mixture from firming up.) Should be enough for
8 apples. Put utensils in hot water for easier cleanup.

Cinnamon Apples

8 wooden ice-cream-bar sticks
8 small Red Delicious apples, washed and dreid
1 cup water
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup red-hot candies
1/2 t red food colouring

Insert a wooden stick part way through stem end of apples. Grease large cookie sheet, set aside.
In 2 quart heavy saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Over medium heat, heat mixutre to boiling
without stirring. With brush dipped in hot water, occasionally brush sugar from sides of pan. Boil, without
stirring, until candy thermometer reaches 290F, or when a little of mixture droped into cold water
separates into thin, hard threads, about 20 minutes. Remove syrup from heat, dip pot bottom briefly in
cold water to arrest cooking. Tip saucepan; swirl each apple in mixture to coat. Place apples on cookie
sheet to cool. Work quickly before syrup hardens. Cool 1 hour before serving.

RED CANDIED APPLES
10-12 pointed wooden skewers
10-12 medium apples
3 Cups sugar
1/4 t cream of tartar
2/3 cup water
1 t lemon juice
15 whole cloves (or 1 teaspoon vanilla)
1 or 2 t red food coloring

Stick skewers in stem end of apples securely. Combine sugar, cream of tartar, water lemon juice &
cloves in heavy saucepan. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add food color. Without stirring, cook to 300 on
candy thermometer (hard crack stage). Removet. Quickly skim out cloves. (Stir in vanilla if using).
Twist apples in syrup. Set on buttered cookie sheet to harden. Notes: Use small, deep saucepan. Don't
let apples touch when drying. Make them the day they will be used. Use draft-free part of kitchen.