How to make candy apples – great for gifts or parties
Make these fun candy apples – as gifts or as a party activity
Autumn arrives and everyone things about halloween and bonfire night. Along with both events comes sweet treats, and toffee apples. Personally I’m not a fan of toffee or caramel and it’s certainly not great for teeth. I decided to get the chocolate and candy melts out instead for us to make candy apples.
N loves baking and helping out in the kitchen, so he was keen to have a go. Add in lots of spinkles choices and what child is going to say no to that?
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Candy melts aren’t the most delicious of toppings but they’re easy to use and effective, giving lots of colour choice. I’ve used them in the past to make pumpkin oreos and tennis ball oreos. They’re great for a themed party. We had some left in the larder so N had a choice of colours, but we stuck with red and green for authentic apple colours. I decided I’d prefer chocolate on my apple so used whatever chocolate I had in the larder. It ended up being mostly milk chocolate with a little dark chocolate as I needed to use that up.
Making the candy apples is so simple. You don’t need many ingredients either, and it’s a good way to get children interested in helping out in the kitchen.
Apart from getting the lolly stick into the apples (which N managed quite easily), the hardest part is getting the layer of topping thin and smooth. You don’t want the coating too thick, but need it just thick enough to properly cover the apple skin.
For the sprinkles you can go mad and totally cover the apple, or just top it. Of course N went a bit mad with his, while I went a bit more subtle.
We used various bits we had in the house, mini marshmallows, baking sprinkles, plus some rainbow drops. We decided that the larger sprinkles don’t work as well as the smaller ones.
Candy apples are great for halloween or bonfire night. If you’re going to a party why not make a few to take with you as a gift – just cover in cellophane and tie a ribbon round. Alternatively, make a candy apple station for a children’s party and get the kids to make their own. They don’t take long to harden so you’ll just need to keep melting the candy or chocolate down to be dippable or pourable each time they get a bit too solid.
What you need to make candy apples
Apples
Candy melts or chocolate drops
Sprinkles of choice
Lolly sticks
Tips for making personalised candy apples
Make sure you get rid of the stalks because that’s the best place to stick in the lolly stick. You can use normal flat sticks, or cake pop sticks which are round. If they aren’t secure enough when stuck in the apple, add a little melted chocolate or candy melt to the bottom of the stick before pushing them in and drizzle a bit around the entry point and wait until hard.
You can melt the candy melts and chocolate in the microwave or in a bain marie/double boiler.
If you don’t have anything to stand the sticks in to let the apples set, just lay them on some greaseproof paper. If you put sprinkles on top, stand them on there. The sprinkles will prevent the candy melts from getting smeared.
Candy apples
Make pretty candy apples as an alternative to toffee apples.
Ingredients
- Lollipop sticks (or cake pop sticks)
- Apples
- Sprinkles of choice
- Candy melts or chocolate
Instructions
Remove the stalks from the apples and stick a lolly stick in the top of each apple
Melt the candy melts or chocolate in either the microwave or in a bain marie on the oven
Dip the apples or pour over the candy melt. Smooth it with a knife or leave it rough.
Before the coating sets, add sprinkles, then leave to set somewhere cool.
Have you ever made candy apples with your children? What other autumn treats do you make?
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