Yum. Caramel apples.
Yummy! Caramel apples.
Can you tell I am excited to talk about caramel apples?
Well I am. Years ago when the kids were young I used to painstakingly peel the wrappers off caramels, melt them and then roll apples into the caramel.
They were so good and I had so much fun rolling them in an assortment of candies and goodies.
I decided that I would make caramel apples again and went looking for caramel to buy and melt. I was shocked at the amount of “unnatural” ingredients that were listed on the labels and decided to make homemade caramel for my apples.
I really enjoy the recipes I see on the blog Edible Perspective and thought I would try her recipe for Pretzel Covered Caramel Apples. They turned out fantastic and of course I added my own touches to the apples.
The molasses in the recipe added a nice richness to the caramel and also a richer color.
Gluten-Free Caramel Apples
Ingredients
- 10-12 small granny smith or gala apples
- Small bamboo skewers or chopsticks
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 tsp vanilla paste
- Assorted gluten free toppings to roll apples in (unsweetened coconut, crushed gluten free pretzels, sliced almonds, dark chocolate chips)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, melt the cream and butter over medium heat.
- Whisk in sugar, syrup and molasses and turn heat to high, bringing the mixture to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to med-low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.
- To check if the caramel sauce is thick enough, dip a spoon into the sauce and pull it out-if a thick layer of sauce sticks to the spoon then you are good to go.
- *After 20 minutes the mixture had not gotten thick yet, so I found I had to cook it for another 15 minutes to get it to thicken.
- Whisk in the vanilla paste.
- Remove the caramel sauce from the heat and let it cool for about 5 minutes.
- Carefully dip each apple into the caramel sauce to evenly coat, and let the excess skim off.
- Roll each caramel apple into the various toppings.
- Place each apple onto parchment paper to dry.
