Traditional Halloween Treats

Me and the kids got together a couple of evenings ago and made one of my favorite childhood Halloween treats - caramel apples.  Yummy!  Yummy!   

I've cheated in years past and just bought the apple dip...but they just don't tast the same as the old fashioned way of making them.

So this year I decided to have a go at them.  I tried them once years ago and failed miserably at getting the caramel to melt and gave up.

But not this year.  I was determined.  :) 

First, I bought a whole lot of those little square caramels and then got my kids to unwrap every single one.  This was my job too when I was their age.   I've since graduated to the heavier responsibilities.  

Keep it up kids, you're doing good, and no, you can't eat any of them. 

What is Aubrey looking at out the window?  SNOW!!! 

Yep, we had our first official taste of snow...even though it lasted just briefly it still counts in my book.  I am really not looking forward to winter just yet.

It didn't take Rigdon very long to figure out what those little brown cubes were and despite our best efforts, he still managed to sneak a few in his mouth.

 Just about done.

Meanwhile, I washed and prepared the apples for dipping.

I melted the caramel cubes in a double boiler pot.  My goodness, that caramel takes quite awhile to get it to the right consistency!  No wonder I gave up years ago...I didn't realize it takes FOREVER to melt the cubes down.  I had to add a tiny bit a milk here and there to help move it along.

Success!!!  The caramel is nice and smooth.  Apple dipping time.

Connor was my apple holder-rotator-guy, rotating the apples until the caramel cools off enough so that it doesn't run off the apple once it's set down.  Once cooled a little bit, we dipped the bottom of the apples in a bowl of sugar.  This helps the caramel apple from getting stuck to the wax paper.  (This was always my favorite part to eat as a kid.)

Finishing up the rest of the apples.

Well, by the time the apples were done, it was too late to eat them.  So they became the after-school snack for the next day.  Don't they look so pretty?  And yummy?  Mmmmmmm.

Delicious!