Chocolate Apples

Ingredients

  • Apples – Fuji, Gala, or Braeburn are best; you can get sweeter/tarter depending on your preference; large apples can feed more than one person
  • Semi-sweet or milk Chocolate chips  – from the baking section; the better the quality the better it sticks; I use Ghirardelli; can also be dark chocolate.  Generally 1 bag=1-3 apples depending on size
  • Caramel – premade caramel sheets are easiest, but caramel chips also work well
  • Popsicle sticks – if the caramel does not come with them
  • Extra toppings – white chocolate, nuts, marshmallows, sprinkles, oreos, etc
  • Butter/olive oil/Pam

Tools

  • Parchment/wax paper
  • Baking pan (for transferring apples from fridge to cooking area)
  • Double boiler or deep skillet and glass bowl

Instructions

  • Preparing your area: put a sheet of wax/parchment paper onto a baking pan; to prevent apples from sticking later, spread butter, olive oil, or Pam onto the wax/parchment paper
  • Preparing the apples (if you have the premade caramel sheets, this doesn’t matter as much): twist the stems off the apples and stick a popsicle stick into the center, leaving enough of the stick so that you can hold onto it while you dip it into chocolate. To remove wax (to make caramel/chocolate stick better) boil water in a pot/saucepan and dip each apple into it for a couple of seconds, wipe it off with a cloth and set it aside. Put apples in fridge until you’re ready to dip them; this also helps caramel/chocolate stick.
  • Caramel: follow the instructions on the bag.
  • Chocolate: in deep skillet, bring water to a boil; add chocolate chips to glass bowl and put the bowl in the water. Stir frequently. When it is smooth, take the apples out of the fridge and individually dip them into the chocolate. It may also be easier to use a large spoon to coat the apples. If you don’t want to add toppings, put the apples into the fridge to set; this can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on the size of the apple; if you want to eat it right away, leave it in long enough that the chocolate doesn’t melt at a touch.
  • Toppings: for nuts and other dry toppings, just put them in a bag and crush them with something heavy and you can either roll the apple in it or sprinkle it on while the chocolate sets. If you want to add white chocolate, the easiest method is to put the white chocolate chips in a plastic bag, put that in boiling water until smooth, then cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. Return to fridge to set.
  • The apples can keep in a fridge for sometimes over a week. If you leave the apple in the fridge for a while, take it out about half an hour before you want to eat it; this makes it easier and cleaner to cut (if you don’t give it enough time to warm up, the chocolate won’t stay on).

Recipe from Karen Martindale (Wiess 2011) and her mom