Poison Candy Apples

I love Thursdays, they are, by far, the best day of my week.

That’s because Thursday is Disney day; the day I pick the girls up from school and we watch Disney movies until their mum picks them up after she finishes work, and we’ve been doing this every Thursday for over a year now. Thursday was also the day we left on our last Disney trip!

It’s also Foodie Thursday on LottieDoesDisney, yay!

As it’s Snow White week, for me there was really only one option to take on: the poison apple.

But I didn’t really fancy poisoning anyone, so I took inspiration from my trip to Disney World, where candy apples are available at most good snack places, and are total works of art! And cos I can’t pop across to the Magic Kingdom every time I fancy a sweet treat, I made my own:

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They were so quick and easy!

You’ll need:

12-15 medium sized apples (I prefer green for flavour and continuity with the film)

5 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp white food colouring (you can probably go without, the white just gives the candy its opaque quality)

Red food colouring – the amount depends entirely on the type of colouring you use

1tsp vanilla extract

White candy melts or white chocolate (a preference thing again, candy melts are less runny, but some people prefer the taste of white chocolate)

You’ll also need a candy thermometer, lollipop sticks and a piping bag (or ziploc bag with a corner cut off)

°o°

In a big saucepan, mix together the sugar and water, and start boiling. Once its mixed up, you don’t need to worry about stirring, just pop in the candy thermometer and keep an eye on it!

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The sugar needs to get to 150°C/302°F (hard crack stage), which will take some time, so meanwhile you can clean the apples, remove the stalk and insert the sticks; they’ll need a strong push!

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Once the sugar is bubbling away, add the food colouring until you get your desired colour

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I cannot stress enough here just how hot the mixture is, please be careful! While kids will love the end result, this recipe is not for them to do themselves. I work with hot sugar a lot as part of my day job, and I’m forever burning myself, and I would never want anyone else, especially children, to endure that.

Once its at temperature, turn off the heat and quickly add the vanilla. It will bubble up a bit, be warned! Then, working quite quickly, you can start dipping the apples.

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I like to tip up the saucepan with one hand, and dunk with the other, twirling the stick to make sure the apple gets a full coating. Then give it a few seconds for excess to drip off before placing on either greaseproof paper, or a well greased baking tray.

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The candy sets hard very quickly, so you can straight on to the next stage: melting the chocolate or candy melts. I like to do this in a pan above hot water, but you could use a microwave.

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Depending on the type of candy melts you use, you might need to add some vegetable or sunflower oil to make it a little runnier and give it more shine. I use Wilton melts, which are quite thick, so I have to do this.

Once melted, load up a piping bag, or ziploc with some of the melted candy, and pipe the outlines of the features of the poison skull onto the now set apple – it can look a little silly, once you’re done it’ll look better!

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Once set, spoon the remaining white melts over the apple, and let it run down over the edges and create its own drip pattern

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These will keep just fine as they are in a sealed container for 2-3 days (but not in the fridge, unless you want a sticky mess on your hands!). You can also wrap them in cellophane to make a perfect gift 🙂

Please note, the red candy is hard. You may need to lick it before you can really bite into it, but that’s how I like it!

Now these are the only type of poison apple to eat, so don’t go accepting any fruit from strange old ladies now!

°o°

3 thoughts on “Poison Candy Apples

  1. Pingback: A Halloween Round-up | lottiedoesdisney

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