Halloween Black Toffee Apples with Carob
Toffee Apples are surprisingly easy to make, plus everybody seems to love them. But Halloween Black Toffee Apples are a real hit! When I saw the recipe for a black variation I decided to give it a go. However, the idea of using an artificial food colouring did not appeal to me at all. So, I switched it for carob powder, which has a lot of nutritious values. The result was just amazing!
The procedure
Wash and dry 4 medium-sized apples or 5 small ones. Prepare small sticks form a tree, wash and dry them. Sharpen the ends with a knife and stick them into the apples.
To make the carob coating
Use a small saucepan and follow the cycle:
- Bitter 60 ml of water, bring to the boil,
- Sweet 110g of caster sugar, boil on low heat until sugar dissolves, 2 teaspoons of honey, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract,
- Pungent a generous pinch of ginger,
- Salty a pinch of salt,
- Sour 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Stir the mixture on low heat until all the ingredients dissolve. Allow to come to a simmer and boil on medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Once it starts boiling do not stir it any more, you may shake the saucepan gently but avoid stirring. Dip the tip of a teaspoon to check the thickness of the mixture. If you find it is thick and sticky on the teaspoon, add:
- Sweet 2 tablespoons (10g) of carob powder, 2 tablespoons (about 15g) of butter.
Stir well and start coating the apples with the toffee mixture. Turn the apples around several times. The mixture will get thick soon after you turn off the heat so you might want to turn the heat on to make it more liquid.
The final stage
Set the apples aside clipping them by the sticks with some laundry clips to the edges of a jug or a pot, so that the apples are heads up and do not touch each other. The toffee will harden very quickly so you can serve them an hour or two later. Also, because carob is one of the ingredients the coating will drip off if left for too long, so eat the apples on the same day.
To balance the sweetness of Halloween Black Toffee Apples serve them with lemon balm green tea or dark Irish coffee.
