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Grandma Betty’s Caramel Apples

4.75 Mitt(s) 8 Rating(s)8 votes, average: 4.75 out of 58 votes, average: 4.75 out of 58 votes, average: 4.75 out of 58 votes, average: 4.75 out of 58 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5

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Level: Easy

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Description

A family favorite for over 50 years. Once you try this, you will never go back to unwrapping and melting all those commercial caramels to dunk apples in!

Braeburn apples are my favorite for this recipe—not too sweet and not too tart.

Ingredients

  • 12 whole Apples
  • ¼ cups Butter
  • 1 cup White Syrup
  • 14 ounces, fluid Eagle Brand Condensed Milk
  • 2 cups White Granulated Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preparation

Assemble all ingredients: wash and dry apples, insert sticks, and butter a cookie sheet and dinner plate before starting to cook.

Heat all ingredients except vanilla in a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium/low heat. Stir constantly! (Unless you really like the look of scorched bits on your apples.)

When caramel reaches soft ball stage (235°F–240°F) remove from heat and add vanilla. Let cool a few minutes.

Using the stick inserted in the apples, dunk apples in the hot caramel and twirl slowly away from the heat for a couple of minutes. It’s nice to have a helper or two at this point.

Place caramel-covered apples on a buttered cookie sheet. Optional: drizzle with melted chocolate or roll in chopped nuts.

Extra caramel from the bottom of the pan:
1. Can be scraped out with a spatula into a buttered plate or dish to be cut into individual pieces when cool.
2. Can be thinned in the pan with half-and-half and eaten warm, as a dip for apple wedges.

23 Comments

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Staci Phelps on 9.11.2017

I have never heard of white syrup…just went to Amazon and all they seem to have a syrups flavored for coffee….they don’t currently have the one in your picture. Any suggestions? Regular syrup?
Thanks so much!

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Teresa White on 11.13.2016

This recipe is amazing. Perfect as written. Using candy thermometer was helpful. Will never use another recipe again.

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vanilla1978 on 10.3.2016

A+ Made these over the weekend. Very good, nice and easy. I found that as the caramel cooled, the last few apples were coated too thickly, so after rolling them and decorating them the puddle at the bottom grew and grew. My decorations slowly slide down over the next 4-6 hours. A break to warm up the caramel then finish the last few would do the trick. And a break would be nice about then. Took them to a fall neighborhood gathering and they were a hit. A+

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Robin on 1.17.2016

this recipe is perfect as written! This will be my go to recipe for my caramel apples! followed the recipe to a T!

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Carmen sandoval on 11.16.2015

I tried them and the caramel is just to hard. Did I leave it in the heat to long?

8 Reviews

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Tiffany on 10.31.2015

Soooo this must be a secret recipe because…WHERE HAS IT BEEN ALL MY LIFE! My goodness this is perfect! If you follow the recipe to the T and don’t straggle or skimp it will come out just like they say! I’m forever using this recipe for my caramel apples! Thanks so much!

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Karissa on 10.31.2014

First time making caramel! It worked well, it just takes a long time and a lot of stirring to get it a nice smooth caramel color. Tasted way better than store bought! I’m definitely using this recipe again.

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Irene Acevedo on 11.1.2012

I made this recipe last night, delicious, yummy just as beautiful as the one in the picture. Never will i by store bought caramel for anything. Cooked my caramel on medium high and went for more of an amber look. Dont be impatient wait for the caramel to cool so you can get a good coating. This was my first caramel and was so proud of my apples :)

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MaryJo F on 10.7.2012

Great recipe. The apples came out great. Better than any packaged caramel.

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Pat Mendell on 10.31.2011

Just finished making this, as the old saying goes “finger likin good” I rolled my caramel apple in chopped M&M’s (plain and peanut butter”) then I drizzled some melted chocolate over that. They look really good. I poured the left over into a dish, like suggested, but then I topped it with coconut and pecan, stired it up a little then spread the left over melted chocolate on top…can’t wait for it to cool. No problems at all, will deffinetly make again.

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