Old Fashioned Candy Apples

By EricS52

Ingredients

• 8 8 8 medium red Delicious apples, washed and dried
• 8 8 8 wooden craft sticks
• 3 3 3 cups sugar
• 3/4 3/4 3/4 cup water
• 1 1 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 12 12 12 whole cloves
• 1/4 1/4 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/8 1/8 1/8 teaspoon red food color

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 2mins
Cooking time 39mins
Adapted from mrfood.com

Preparation

Step 1

What To Do:

Remove the stems from the apples and place a craft stick securely through the stem end of each. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients and cook over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved, stirring constantly. Increase the heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5 more minutes. Uncover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the mixture reaches the hard crack stage (300 degrees - see Note). Remove the cloves with a slotted spoon; be careful - the mixture is very hot.

Quickly dip each apple into the syrup mixture, coating completely. Place on the baking sheet and allow to cool. Serve, or wrap each individually in plastic wrap until ready to serve.


Notes

To easily determine the hard crack stage, drop a bit of the mixture from a teaspoon into a glass of cold water. If it hardens and forms strands in the water, then it has reached the hard crack stage. If not, continue to cook the mixture, then test it again after a bit.