This quintessential Halloween treat gets a sophisticated update that no adult could pass by. With dark chocolate, homemade caramel and crushed cashews covering a sweet tart Empire apple, all the tricks fade and only the treat is left to temp you.
Ingredients
- 12 Empire apples, large, about 2 lbs each
- 2 lbs. Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate
- 1 lb. cashews, unsalted and coarsely chopped
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 12 18″ wooden dowels
Method
- Wash and dry apples and insert dowels into stem side using a mallet. Place prepared apples on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate as the process works best with cold apples.
- Add the sugar, corn syrup, cream and butter to a large saucepan and boil over medium-high heat. Stir constantly until temperature reaches 240 degrees. While the pot begins to heat up, prepare a bowl of ice water, large enough to accommodate the pot. As soon as the temperature reaches 240 or just under, immediately plunge the pot into bowl of ice water. Add the vanilla and stir over ice water until the caramel has cooled and thickened.
- Dip the apples into the caramel. You may need to use a spoon to help slather the caramel over the entire apple. Place the coated apples back on the baking sheet and refrigerate until cool and firm, approximately 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare your chocolate. Coarse chop all of the chocolate and melt half of it in a double boiler. Once the water has boiled, remove from the stove and return only long enough to keep it hot. Do not boil the chocolate or let it get too hot. Once the chocolate has melted, remove entirely from heat and add remaining chocolate. Stir with a rubber scrapper constantly until it is all melted. If necessary, you can heat the chocolate just slightly, but you do not want it get hotter than body temperature. When the chocolate feels cool, but has slight warmth left in it, it is ready to use. This process is called tempering and will give you a firm, shiny coating.
- Dip the caramel-coated apples into the tempered chocolate and spoon to cover if necessary. You can set the pot back over the warm water from the double-boiler if it starts to get hard, but do not return it to the stove! Roll the apples in crushed cashews to cover bottoms and halfway up the sides and place on clean parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until set approximately 30 minutes.
- Bag each apple separately in a candy bag available at craft stores and tie closed with a piece of ribbon and enjoy or give away as a treat.
