I had lunch today with a couple of my autism mom friends. We started talking about Christmas gifts. When you have a child with special needs, your Christmas gift list grows by leaps and bounds with the number of truly wonderful, awesome people that work with your child on a daily basis. Special Ed teachers, regular ed teachers, autism aids, speech therapists, behavioral therapists, occupational therapists, adaptive PE coaches......it truly takes a village!!!
I make these almost every year and one year I did indeed give these apples as gifts. I took pictures along the way as I was making them a couple of years ago to blog the process, but for some reason, the blog posting never came to fruition. So, today, after describing the chocolate apple making process to my friends, I thought that I would dig the pictures out of my file drawer and share the secret of just how easy these super cute apples are to make.
I love this large Ghiradelli chocolate bar for all of my holiday dipping. I get a few of them every holiday season at Sam's Club. I haven't look yet this year, but they have been there every holiday for the past few years. You can also use the melting chocolate disks, like the white ones in this picture, or almond bark. However, just plain old chocolate chips are not going to set up like specific dipping chocolate.
Rule #1 of this process: MAKE SURE THAT YOUR APPLES ARE ROOM TEMPERATURE!!! If your apples are cold when you dip them them in the chocolate, the chocolate will crack as the apples warm. Don't ask me how I know this.....it wasn't a happy day for me!!
Take a caramel disk and stretch it out with your hands. You can also melt the caramel squares and dip the apples, but that is just too much work for me!!
Poke a hole in the middle of the caramel and stretch the sheet around the apple. No need to melt them in the oven, they will be fine, I promise.
Make sure to line you sheet pan with parchment paper or wax paper so that the apples don't stick.
Chop up some chocolate and put it into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate according to package directions. Go slow with this process so that the chocolate is nice and smooth. I typically put it in the microwave for about 45 seconds, take it out and stir, put it back for 45 seconds, take it out and stir and so on and so on until the mixture is pure chocolaty liquid perfection.
The bowl does no need to be filled to the top with chocolate to totally immerse the apple. Use your spoon to pour chocolate from the top and let it fall down the sides of the apple. After the apple is completely covered shake it a couple of times to let the excess chocolate fall off.
Then put your chocolate caramel apple on the sheet pan.
Now add your decorations....candies, sprinkles, toffee chips, mini chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, whatever you little heart desires. Just make sure to let the chocolate set up for a minute or two so that the treats don't just fall down over the side of the apple.
I like to do a few at a time. If you cover all of the apples and then go back to the first ones to add your treats, they will be too dry for the candy to stick.
My favorite are the toffee chips!!
I like to add a white chocolate drizzle when I am done to give them that extra special wow look. The easiest way that I have found to do this is melt the chocolate in a ziplock bag.
When the chocolate is melted inside the bag, cut off a small corner and drizzle the chocolate all over the apples. Gives them a professional look.
Ta Da!! They are as yummy as they are beautiful.
To present the apple as a gift, put each on into a clear cello bag.
Add a big, festive bow and voila...a Christmasy Chocolate Caramel Apple ready to present as a gift.
Let the holiday season begin!!
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