Learn how to make candy apples with us. It’s not hard. It’s actually crazy-easy. Promise!
Candy apples – sweet, tart and crunchy. Brilliantly, brightly red. Sooooo shiny. Geez, they’re just plain freaking fun. It turns out they’re easy to make too. Don’t let the candy-making process scare you. Really, you’re just going to mix together a few ingredients and then put them over high heat on the stove until they reach the right temperature. Stay close but there’s no need to even stir. Then dip your apples in and set them down to dry. Done! (If you’re hooked on candy-making after that, next step…learn how to make Classic Popcorn balls!)
Here’s A Video Showing How To Make Your Own Candy Apples:
I’ve included a little bonus below for you below. To make your apple bottoms special you pour demerara sugar onto a baking sheet. Set the wet candy-covered apples down in it. It gives the bottoms of the apples this cool sparkly look. You can even mix some pumpkin spice in with the sugar for some Fall flavor too.
OK, let’s get on with it.
How To Make Candy Apples:
Step#1: Make your candy syrup mixture
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan mix together 2 cups sugar, 3/4 cups water, 1/2 cup light corn syrup, 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (I use the gel kind, like this) and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon extract (optional). It’s actually really important that you use a heavy-bottomed saucepan. If the pan is too thin or flimsy, it won’t hold the heat enough, and then your syrup will cool too quickly. I do have another solution for that below though.
The mixture will be bright red like this.
Step#2: Heat your syrup to the hard crack stage
Set up your candy thermometer so that the tip is in the mixture and is not touching the bottom of the pot. Put it over high heat and bring it to a boil. Leave it bubbling on high. It’ll look like this.
You keep letting it bubble like that on high until it gets to be between 300ºF and 310ºF, this is the hard crack stage needed for that crunchy coating. You’re going to do some other stuff while the mixture is heating, but beware! It might seem like it’s taking forever to heat but once it gets to the 230ºF everything speeds up. So keep your eye on it while you’re multi-tasking. The whole thing will take around 20 minutes.
Step #3: Get your pan ready
While the sugar mixture is coming to temperature, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray it with baking spray. This is so your hot candy doesn’t stick while it’s hardening.
Step#4: Wash and dry your apples
You want your apples clean so definitely wash them well with water. But, it’s important that they not be wet at all for the candy to stick. Make sure you dry them off well.
Step#5: Get your sticks ready
I’m using some twigs here. Here are some other ideas for sticks. You can also get specialized sticks that are just for candy apples online here.
Important Tip: I also highly recommend that you put a kettle of water on to boil. Just before your syrup is ready, you’ll want to put hot water into a large bowl. If your candy syrup starts to harden too quickly so that you can’t roll apples in it properly, put the bottom of the pot into the water for a minute or two. Don’t let water get into the pot. You just want the heat from the water to warm the pot and help keep the candy warm.
Step#6: Put the sticks into the apples
Stick the sticks down into the tops of the apples. You want to get a good ways in. If your sticks are long, go all the way but not through the other end. If they’re shorter, getting halfway into the apple is good enough. If any juice comes out of the apple from piercing it with the stick, dry it off with a paper towel.
Here’s an apple on a stick!
Step#7 (optional): Make a sugar base
Mix together 1/4 cup demerara sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice (you can leave out the pumpkin spice if you want. What’s crucial is the sugar).
Sprinkle the sugar mixture onto your prepared pan.
Step#9: Dip your apples
When your candy mixture is at 310ºF, take it of the heat. Tilt your pot to the side and hold the apples by the stick to roll them one at a time in the mixture. Be careful because that sugar syrup is seriously hot. Don’t let the candy syrup get to the top of the apple where the stick is. There might be excess moistuer there, and if the candy touches it, it won’t adhere as well. After rolling the apple around, hold it up over the saucepan and shake it gently to let some excess syrup drip off.
If your syrup becomes too difficult to work with because it’s thickening, dip the bottom of the pot in a bowl of hot water for a minute. If, on the other hand, your syrup is too thin, you can wait a minute or two for it to cool slightly and start thickening.
Step#10: Let the candy harden
Put the apples on your prepared pan to harden. They’ll be hard and ready to eat within 10 minutes. It’s kind of amazing how fast it happens. And it’s amazing how good they taste!
If you want to print out these instructions, click print in the recipe box below. Or you can get the instructions and all kinds of other candy apple tips, tricks, ideas and recipes in our Candy Apple Series over here.
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How to Make Candy Apples
Learn how to make candy apples with us. It’s not hard. It’s actually crazy-easy. The main tricky part is getting the syrup to the right texture. Read the note at the bottom for a really great tip!
Listen to our editor, Christine Pittman, explain briefly how to make these candy apples, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp. red gel food coloring
- baking spray
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon extract (optional)
- 1/4 cup demerara sugar (optional)
- 1 tsp. pumpkin spice (optional)
- 6 medium apples
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
- parchment paper
- candy thermometer
- 6 candy apple sticks
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan mix together sugar, water, corn syrup, food coloring and extract (if using). The mixture will be bright red.
- Set up your candy thermometer so that the tip is in the mixture and is not touching the bottom of the pot. Put it over high heat and bring it to a boil. Leave it bubbling on high until it gets to be between 300ºF and 310ºF. It will take around 20 minutes but keep your eye on it. It gets really fast at the end.*
- While the sugar mixture is coming to temperature, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray it with baking spray. Wash and dry your apples. Stick the sticks down into the tops of the apples. You want to get a good ways in. If your sticks are long, go all the way but not through the other end. If they’re shorter, getting halfway into the apple is good enough.
- For sparkly apple bottoms, mix together 1/4 cup demerara sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice (you can leave out the pumpkin spice if you want. What’s crucial is the sugar). Sprinkle the sugar mixture onto your prepared pan.
- When your candy mixture is at 310ºF, take it of the heat. Tilt your pot to the side and hold the apples by the stick to roll them one at a time in the mixture. Be careful because that sugar syrup is very hot. After rolling the apple around, hold it up over the saucepan and shake it gently to let some excess syrup drip off. Put the apples on your prepared pan to harden. They’ll be hard and ready to eat within 10 minutes.
Notes
*The thing that makes candy apples tricky is having the right thickness for your candy syrup when you’re rolling the apples in it. One thing you can do is to heat a kettle of water and shortly before you start dipping your apples, pour the hot water into a large bowl. If your syrup is too thin and isn’t adhering to the apples, just wait a moment and try again. As the syrup cools slightly, it thickens. On the other hand, if your syrup is thickening too quickly or start to get too thick, dip the bottom of the pot into the hot water, being careful not to get any water into the candy. You just want to warm the pot a bit to warm the syrump and thin it a bit.
Perfect recipe. I used diffe6oil based flavorings, just did blue coloring with pineapple flavor. I find making sure your apples are room temperature is also key.
★★★★★
Awesome, Mark! Thank you for sharing with us.
I’ve made apples like this before. The key is to have a sturdy pot that holds the heat well.
★★★★★
Connie, I totally agree! And you can have a big bowl of hot water ready to warm the bottom of the pot up too, if the syrup starts to get too tough. I’m going to add that to the instructions above, actuall!
I come back to this recipe every year! I don’t like the sugar and spice bottoms but the rest of the recipe works perfectly.
★★★★★
Cheryl, I’m so happy to hear that. Enjoy!
Awesome candy apples.
I went to the mall the other day. I saw candy apples. The prices was $5.
I said I will make my own. I made them for my dad for Valentine’s Day.
That’s so sweet! Hope you all enjoyed, Ann.
If you cut an apple in quarters and dip it in hot candy coating,will it hurt the white part of the apple.
Daniel, the issue is that the white part of the apple is very juicy. That interferes with the candy coating being able to adhere to it. The peel is not juicy and the candy is able to fuse to it much better.
I followed this step by step, and the candy wasn’t thick enough to coat the apples. It was a very thing layer and most of it just went onto the pan. It said to immediately dip the apples which I did when my thermometer hit 310°. They probably would’ve been thicker if I let the candy sit for a few moments or if they’re wasn’t so much syrup in the recipe.
My candy came to the hard crack stage at about 230. I know cause I checked it with the cold water drop test. Unfortunately it never got to the 300 stage it just started burning. I had to take it off the burner and dump it outside. My house filled with smoke from it burning. I used a candy thermometer. Any suggestions? I’m gonna try again tomorrow. The spoon dipped in it before it burnt tasted delicious!
I’m sorry that it didn’t work for you, Melissa. I’m not a candy making expert, but hard crack stage for candy is supposed to be 300-320F. If yours got to the hard crack stage earlier, you could go ahead and dip then.
Worst recipe ever!!
Can i use regular corn syrup??
You could, Gen, but it’d be slightly different results. Light versus dark corn syrup is about the color and they have slightly difference flavors. It’s not about the sugar content. So, using a darker corn syrup may not look as nice, but it will work.
My candy apple sauce hard real fast, I didn’t get but three apple, what can I do?
Annette, While your syrup is heating, put on a kettle of water to boil. Shortly before the candy is ready, pour the hot water into a large bowl. If your candy starts to thicken and harden too quickly, you can dip your pot into the bowl of water to warm it and soften it a bit. Just be careful not to get any water into the candy.
I had problems with my apples oozing juice from where the stick is inserted. What do you suggest for that. My caramel was good, my chocolate was good, my candy dip was good, but all oozed juice near the stick and ruined the caramel, the choc and the candy.
The only thing I can think of is using less juicy apples, L. I haven’t run into this problem before so I’m not really sure. We’ve got ideas for which varieties to use here – https://thecookful.com/best-apple-varieties/