By ShowMeStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by Cookies Cupcakes and Cardio.
A candy apple is an apple in a shell of hardened sugar. That is the whole thing. What makes people nervous is the sugar, because it goes from clear syrup to 300F in about a minute and there is no undo button.
Jenn Johns of Cookies Cupcakes and Cardio walks through two versions. The first is the traditional one: sugar, water and corn syrup cooked together, then tinted with gel color. You are not limited to red. A drop of white coloring first makes the shell opaque, so the pink or blue or purple that follows reads as a solid color instead of a tint over dark apple skin.
The second method skips the stove. Fifty Jolly Ranchers of one color, melted in the oven, give you a thicker and slightly softer coating with a built-in flavor. It is more forgiving than cooked sugar and a good place to start if hot syrup makes you uneasy.
Somewhere between 250F and 300F. The higher end gives you the shell that cracks when you bite it. Jenn pulls hers at 250F for something a little chewier and easier on the teeth. Both are correct, so pick the texture you want.
Water and molten sugar do not get along. Any moisture left on the skin turns to steam under the coating and the shell slides off in one piece a few hours later. Wash them, dry them properly, and let them come to room temperature before you dip.
10 steps · about 9 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Get everything on the counter before you turn on the stove. Sugar, water, corn syrup, your colors, the sticks, and whatever you are using to decorate.
Once the syrup comes off the heat it starts cooling and thickening straight away. There is no time to go hunting for a spatula halfway through.
Tip
Set the silicone mat or parchment down before you start too. You will be holding a dripping apple in one hand when you need it.
Wash the apples, pull the stems, and dry them completely. Then push a wooden stick straight down into the top where the stem was.
Push it in far enough that it feels solid. You are about to hold the whole weight of the apple by that stick while it is upside down in hot sugar.
Tip
Supermarket apples often have a wax coating that stops candy sticking. A quick dunk in hot water and a rub with a towel takes it off.
Three cups of sugar, one cup of water and half a cup of light corn syrup go into a saucepan over medium high heat.
The corn syrup is doing real work here. It stops the sugar crystallizing as it cools, which is the difference between a glassy shell and a gritty one.
Tip
Use a deeper pan than you think you need. The syrup bubbles up hard when the coloring goes in.
Let it heat until the thermometer reads somewhere between 250F and 300F.
That range is a texture choice, not a mistake. Nearer 300F and the shell shatters when you bite it. Jenn pulls hers at 250F, which stays a little chewy. Do not stir it while it climbs.
Tip
No thermometer? Drop a little syrup into cold water. At the right stage it hardens instantly into a thread you can snap.
Off the heat, squeeze in the white coloring first and stir it through gently. Then add your main color.
It will bubble up when the coloring hits, so stand back a little. Stir slowly. Every extra stir beats more air into the syrup, and those bubbles set into the finished shell.
This is also the moment to add a flavoring oil if you want one. Cinnamon is the traditional choice.
Tip
The white base is what makes pastel colors possible. Skip it and pink over red apple skin just looks like darker red.
Tilt the pot to one side so the syrup pools deep, then lower the apple in and turn it.
Keep it moving until the skin is covered. Work quickly, because the syrup is thickening from the second it leaves the burner and a cool pot coats unevenly.
Tip
If the syrup gets too stiff before you finish the batch, put it back on low heat for a minute to loosen it.
Lift the apple clear and hold it over the pot while the excess runs off.
Then stand it on a silicone mat or parchment to harden. You will know it is ready when you can lift it without the base sticking behind.
Tip
Try to leave a little bare space around the stick. Where candy seals tight against the wood it tends to bubble as it cools.
Once the shell is hard, brush a little piping gel around the top and press on sprinkles or rock candy.
Piping gel is the better glue of the two options. Corn syrup works for fine sprinkles but it is runnier, and heavier rock candy slides straight off it.
Tip
Match the rock candy color to the shell for a jeweled look, or go contrasting if you want the decoration to pop.
For the second method, unwrap about 50 Jolly Ranchers of a single color into an oven safe pan and put them in at 350F for 15 minutes.
Fifty candies coats roughly three apples. Sprinkle edible glitter over the melted candy, stir it through with an oven mitt on, then return it to the oven for another five minutes to loosen back up.
Tip
Keep the colors separate. Mixed Jolly Ranchers melt into a muddy brown that looks nothing like the wrapper.
Tip the pan on its side so the candy gathers, then twirl the apple through it.
This coating is noticeably thicker than the cooked sugar version. Set it down on parchment to harden, then seal the exposed top with piping gel and more glitter or rock candy.
Tip
Swapping the plain stick for a paper straw or a trimmed apple branch makes a real difference on a dessert table.
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