RED CANDY APPLES

Well as promised I am publishing the "Candy Apple" recipe. This is the red hard candy apple. Not the Carmel which is what you see more often now a days. In the Grocery store around this time of the year you will see a Kraft display of their bagged caramels by the apple in the produce department. The recipe for caramel apples is on the Kraft bag. We have all made those apples, and while they are good...they are not the "State Fair" kind of candy apple. That is what makes this recipe so neat. Not everyone does these anymore..and they are really easy and only have 5 ingredients plus the apples.
I was interested in the origins of the Candied Apple and read that a veteran Newark Candy maker, William W. Kolb produced the first one in 1908, working with his cinnamon candy around Christmas time. Needless to say they were a big hit.

My recipe calls for cinnamon extract and red food coloring, but you can use the cinnamon candies for flavor and color. The real important ingredient is the corn syrup (I like Karo). These are easy, and the apples I suggest are of course Red Delicious, but you can use any you like. Even Granny Smith looks kind of neat with the red.

Have fun let the kid help and have a batch for Halloween on a platter and see how many are left after the Witches away.

Keeping with the Halloween and candy theme, I will be posting my Grandmothers Peanut Brittle on the next post, with a little history about this candy, and some family history also. Mean while test out these apples and let me know.


3 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup of water
1 teaspoon cinnamon extract(cinnamon candies to taste and color)
1 teaspoon of red food coloring
8 apples


Cook sugar, corn syrup, and water until it reaches 285 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from fire add cinnamon, food coloring and stir until color is blended. Insert wooden sticks into top of the apples and dip into mixture. Drain apples on buttered pan, wax paper or foil.

Halloween and Homemade Candy

With Halloween approaching I remember back to some of my favorite times of "trick or treating",  and they all revolved around getting the best candy.  Of course back then when things were safe, and everyone was trusted, we preferred homemade candy to the store bought.

We could get Snicker Bars and Baby Ruths all through out the year...but homemade candy and treats were reserved for holidays with Halloween being the King of Get Candy days.  It was the only day that you could eat all the candy you wanted, without being told, "That's enough, you are going to make yourself sick"....which we did sometimes.  But after all how many times does an eight year old have a bag full of so much chocolate at their disposal. 

Not only did we remember the houses that had given homemade candy and treats the year before...we actually got together and compared notes with the other kids as to which houses were on their list.  Between us, we made the rounds.  Sometimes we were disappointed when time had been a factor, and one of our favorite treaters had dropped tootsie rolls instead of last years candied apples in the bag.  Yes Candy apples were big, as well as popcorn balls.  

Speaking of pop corn balls, this was my Mothers treat some years.  They were colored with orange food coloring and had stick candy inserted in them so you ate them like a candied apple.

She sometimes would include peanuts in the mix, and many years later "Fiddle Faddle" used the same ingredients in their concoction.  For those of you who have not had "Fiddle Faddle" it is a popcorn ball left loose in a box.  All the ingredients including the syrup, popcorn, nuts, vanilla, but not shaped in a ball.  Use to be in a red box.  I am not sure they still make it...if anyone knows let me know.

Since times have changed and we no longer let our children eat homemade goodies from our neighbors...who we don't know, we all check to make sure the Hershey bars, bubble gum, and such has not been tampered with before we allow the chomping down.

Still this month I will start posting candy and homemade treat recipes in celebration of days gone by.  You can make them up for your family and friends.  Some of you may want to keep the recipes and use them during the upcoming Holidays and maybe give some at Christmas. 

These are old recipes from my Mothers collection, and some from my Grandmothers.  I will start with  the Pop Corn Balls.  They are fun for the little ones to help make and can make a great Halloween decoration.

HELON'S HALLOWEEN POP CORN BALLS

1 CUP SUGAR                                               

1/3 CUP WHITE CORN SYRUP

1/3 CUP OF WATER

1/4 CUP BUTTER

1/2 TEASPOON SALT

1 TEASPOON VINEGAR

1 TEASPOON VANILLA

3 QUARTS POPPED CORN

ORANGE FOOD COLORING(OPTIONAL)

1 1/2 CUPS OF SALTED PEANUTS (OPTIONAL)

 

Combine sugar , syrup, water, butter, vinegar, food coloring, and salt.  Cooke, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Continue cooking without stirring until syrup reaches 270 degrees or forms a brittle ball when dropped in cold water.  Add vanilla.  Pour syrup over popped corn,(and nuts) stirring until all kernels are covered.  Grease hands with butter and shape into balls.  Makes 12.  Do not double recipe.  Best to make in small batches since you are working against the syrup hardening.

You can form this around a Tootsie Roll Pop leaving the stick out to form a stem for the ball.  It is also a nice surprise  after you eat the ball.

You can color these any color you choose.  We did orange and green for the Holiday colors...once year we tried black not very pretty, but tasted fine.

Hope you enjoy. Next Post is Red Candy Apples