Caramel Poison Apples

Everyone loves candy coated apples, at least I think everyone does. These caramel apples bring the holidays (yes, to my husband and myself, Halloween is *the* holiday of the year) to a whole new level and will look fantastic at any party.

Step 1: Materials & Ingredients

-Apples

-3-4 drops black food gel

-1 bag of caramels

-1/4-1/2 cup of cream

-Sticks

This recipe is for 6-8 small apples.

Step 2: Apple Prep

Wash your apples as you normally would and dry them. If you like, you can also use a piece of clean sandpaper and lightly sand the outside of the apples---this is just for better caramel adherence.

Remove any stems and stab your apples with whatever sticks you plan to use. I found these great Halloween themed candy sticks at Michaels and had to get them. They come in brown or black.

The green and white sticks I found at Walmart for $1.84. While these do appear fairly sturdy, pre-stab your apple before putting the stick in, otherwise the stick will bend.

Step 3: The Caramel

You could make your own, but I find buying a bag of caramels to be easier and less time consuming. Unwrap all of the caramels and put into a pot. I used my smallest pot for this, figuring it would be easier to keep things from getting messy.

Add cream. The more cream you add the thinner your caramel coating. Thin or thick, there's no wrong way to do this, it's just preference. Additionally, the thinner your caramel, the more there is to go around.

I cooked the caramel over medium heat, stirring often and rarely taking my eyes off of the pot.

Step 4: Paint It Black

As soon as all the caramels seemed to be melted---maybe 5 minutes, I added the black food gel.

A little goes a long way with black food gel, start with a little and add more as needed.

***Warning: too much gel and your mouth will turn black***

One by one, take one of your apples by the stick and carefully swirl it around in the pot of caramel. I left the burner on low, so the caramel wouldn't cool off too quickly.

Once you are satisfied with the caramel coverage on your apple, let the excess drip off (or have a friend help you wipe it off) and place on a sheet of parchment paper.

Continue until all of your apples and coated.