Toffee Apples

When I was a kid, the grandmother of one of my friends used to make toffee apples and sell them to all the kids in the neighbourhood. This was an important part of the summer in the Red Row - Mrs Fiefield's toffee apples! Recently a friend was talking about making caramel apples, and this reminded me of my childhood. I finally got around to making these for the boys, and the first attempt turned out extremely well. As I perfect the recipe I'll do a video.

This was surprisingly easy to make even for someone like me who has never made boiled candy before. I did not have a candy thermometer but I did have my trusty brewing thermometer, which is accurate even up to the 150C required to make this.

• 9 small to medium apples, washed and dried
• 4 cups (1 kg) sugar (white or brown)
• 8 oz (250g) butter
• 4 tbs white wine vinegar
• 4 tbs boiling water
• 1/2 teaspoon red food colouring

I simply mixed all of the ingredients in a 3 litre pot and put the burner on 6 until everything was dissolved, at which point I put the burner on full until it came to the boil. The original recipe said to boil for about 10 minutes or until the temperature reached 150C, and to not stir at all during this entire time. So once it came to the boil I reduced the burner to 6 again and stopped stirring. I monitored the temperature 3 or 4 times while timing 10 minutes, and sure enough when the time was up, I was just over 150C.

By this point I had the apples washed and had popsickle sticks in them. I turned the heat off and immediately started dipping the apples, though in hindsight I should have probably left the toffee sit for 3 or 4 minutes to cool a bit before starting to dip them, since the first few did not coat as well as the rest. I had a 2 litre container of really cold water ready, and a tray ready with a silpat mat on it. As I dipped each apple I twirled it, dunked it for 5 seconds or so in the cold water, and then set it down on the mat. If you do not have silpat then use parchment paper - but silpat is reusable so preferred.

They turned out really well for a first attempt, although the toffee is not as translucent as what I recall from my childhood. But it certainly does not lack in flavour, in the least! My wife says that in the future I should eliminate the red food colouring since it is still suspected in making kids hyperactive, and I should also experiment with different types of sugar including brown sugars. I'll report back as I do!