No-Waste Caramel Apple Halves

With all the fall fests and Halloween parties happening, it’s easy to find yourself looking for treats to serve.  One of the most common autumn delights are caramel apples, and for good reason! Surfing the web, I found a new twist on caramel apples, and that was to make them into little caramel apple pops, similar in looks and size to cake pops covered in caramel. It was a great idea, since who can actually  finish an entire caramel apple? Those things are massive. And sticky. And way sweet. With apple chunks that small though, the ratio of apple to caramel struck me as a little too heavy on the sticky stuff. So I tried my hand at making these No-Waste Caramel Apple Halves, complete with Halloween sprinkles.

No-Waste Caramel Apple Halves – A Great Fall Treat

This was my very first attempt ever at making caramel-dipped anything and it was a lot trickier than I thought. Thankfully, there’s only so far you can fail with slathering apples in caramel and now I can share with you what to do and what not to do!

So, here’s what I did:

I is cut all the apples in half first and laid them in a cake pan in the freezer. While they sat there, I melted down the caramel and filled little bowls with sprinkles. I brought the apples out of the freezer and dipped them in the caramel, put them back in the cake pan and shoved them in the fridge. After just a few minutes, I brought them out again to bob in the bowls of glittery sugar crystals.

The problems I ran into were these:

• The part of the apple not protected by skin doesn’t hold caramel very well and it will all slide off unless you dip, drop, and dock inside the fridge real fast. You can pat that part dry with a paper towel as well, before dipping to ensure maximum caramel hold.
• Secondly, it takes time for the caramel to harden.
• Last of all, apple halves do not stand up well on their own.

No-Waste Caramel Apple Halves Ingredients

• Shish kebab sticks
• A bag of caramels (minus seven that I ate)
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• container of Halloween sprinkles
• 4 apples

Here’s what you should do-

How To Make No-Waste Caramel Apple Halves

• Place a cookie sheet or cake pan in freezer to prepare it for placing apples in once dipped. Have space ready for it in your fridge.
• Melt down the caramel squares on low to medium heat.
• Cut apples in half and pat down skinless side.
• Poke sticks through the apples to make them stand upright until the caramel settles as a base.
• Dip apples into the caramel, place in cake pan, and put in fridge until caramel is well hardened.
• When hardened, take out and roll in sprinkles, chocolate chips, nuts, gummies, or whatever crazy ingredients you want!

Some suggestions I have are these: Don’t freeze your apples beforehand. I don’t see a reason to and it just makes them slide out of the warm caramel much quicker. Put the sticks in to help them stand. While I had already poked holes in my apples with the sticks, this was just for putting them on a stick. What I should have done is cut the apples, see how they stand up, and poke the stick in appropriately to aid them in their standing. This way, when they’re covered in caramel and waiting to harden, they will stand upright with the sticks in them in the cake pan and not fall over and stick to the globs of caramel. This doesn’t make for pretty apples. Give them enough time to harden before taking them out of the fridge. I didn’t give them enough time at all, but at that point my apples were lying face down in pools of remaining caramel anyway so really, aesthetically speaking, I couldn’t ruin them further.

In attempting to serve apple halves, you still get the look of a caramel apple and can eat it off the sticks, but it’s the amount of sugar and apple one can actually stomach. They are basically the perfect size and ratio of apple to caramel, and super fun to decorate besides!  In fact decorating could be a fun Halloween party activity if you have everything ready first!

I made No-Waste Caramel Apple Halves With Halloween Sprinkles:

If you have kids, this would probably be a great fall treat much easier for them to finish than a whole apple.  Do Caramel Apple Halves sound like a good idea to you?  What are your apple-dipping techniques?