Taste wise caramel apples are top notch. The sweetness of the gooey caramel, the tartness of a crisp Granny Smith—there’s no flavor combo quite like it. However design wise, there were a couple of flaws in the original markup. One, they are rather difficult to eat and there’s never enough caramel to go around. By the time you get the middle of the apple, you’re just eating an apple. So what do you do? Simple.  A re-design as adopted from Domestic Fits.

Ingredients

3 large Granny Smith apples

1 large lemon, squeezed

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tbs butter

2 tbs light corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

Crème Fraiche (optional)

Directions

Cut your apples in half (remove the stem) and use a melon baller to scoop out the insides. Leave about ¼ inch thickness of the flesh inside. Finely dice some of the scooped out apple.

With a pastry brush, brush the inside of the apple with lemon juice. This will keep them from turning brown right away.

In a saucepan over high heat, add the brown sugar, butter, heavy cream and corn syrup. Stir until the brown sugar has dissolved. Allow to boil, stirring occasionally, for about 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla, stir continually until it stops bubbling. Allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes.

Using a paper towel, pat your apples dry. If the inside of the apple is wet from the lemon juice, the caramel will not stick.

Pour the caramel into the hollowed out apple, leaving room below the top. Sprinkle some of the diced apples pieces into the caramel lake (this way you get nice chunk of apple taste in all bites). If you are having a hard time getting your apple to “balance” on their backs, try a muffin tin told hold it in place.

Chill in the refrigerator until the caramel has set, about 20 minutes.

Cut into slices and top off with crème fraiche.

 

-Arianna Schioldager