Boo – It’s National Caramel Apple Day!

Times they are a changing – and have been for a while now. Did you Trick or Treat as a child? Trick or Treating – and the treats themselves have changed.

When I was a girl (back in the stone age), everyone had a carved pumpkin on their front porch. Parents took their little ones out to trick or treat in the neighborhood they lived in. These were your neighbors, people you knew, people you trusted, handing out caramel apples and popcorn balls and all sorts of home-made treats.

Today is Halloween. It’s also National Caramel Apple Day – a salute to the nostalgic notion of home-made treats. How I wish life were simple again. Don’t you?

Happy Halloween!

Chocolate Caramel Apples
Caramel Apples:
8 large Granny Smith Apples
6 Pretzel Rods, coarsely crushed
1 cup Reese’s Pieces
2 cup Milk Chocolate Chips
2 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
10 oz White Candy Coating, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoon Shortening
2 (11 oz) packages Kraft Caramel Bits
3 tablespoons Water

Materials:
8 Waxed Paper Squares
8 Decorative Wooden Pop Sticks
2 Pie Tins
4 Microwave-safe Bowls

Line 1 or 2 baking pans with 8 waxed paper squares; grease the squares and set aside. Note: the number of baking pans will be determined by size of the pans and the apples. Apples, once coated, cannot touch.

Wash and thoroughly dry apples. Insert a pop stick into the top of each; set aside.

Coarsely crush pretzel rods, place in a pie tin and set aside. Empty Reese’s Pieces in another pie tin, set aside.

Place milk chocolate chips in microwave-safe bowl. Place semisweet chocolate chips in another microwave-safe bowl Heat each bowl in a microwave in 20-second intervals until melted; stir until smooth. Set chocolates aside. In a third microwave-safe bowl, melt candy coating and shortening; in 20-second intervals, stir until smooth.

In a 4th microwave-safe bowl, combine caramels and water. Heat in a microwave in 30-second intervals until melted; stir until smooth.

Set up an assembly line. Melted caramel first, followed by pretzels, then Reese’s Pieces. Next the melted chocolate and finally the candy coating, each with a spoon.

Dip apples into caramel; turn to coat. Immediately press pretzels and Reese’s pieces into sides of apples. Drizzle melted chocolate and candy coating over tops. Place on prepared pan; let stand until set.