1. In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan mix together 3/4 cups of the heavy cream, the corn syrup, butter, sugar and vanilla. Attach a candy thermometer to the pan and make sure the tip is in the syrup but  not touching the bottom or side of the pan.
2. Heat on high over high heat until it reaches between 244-248°F. At that point, use a spoon to carefully move away some of the light froth on top to see the color of the syrup below. If it’s a dark enough caramel color for you, like peanut butter is ideal, remove it from the heat. If not, let it heat a bit longer until that color is reached.
3. Remove from heat. Carefully add the remaining 1/4 cup cream and the vanilla. Swirl gently to combine.
4. While the caramel is cooking, put parchment paper on a cooking sheet. Spray it with baking spray.
5. Wash and dry the apples. Insert sticks through stem end. If the sticks are long, go ahead and push them all the way into the apple, without going through the other end. if they’re shorter, halfway into the apple works.
6. Wait for the caramel to stop bubbling. Then hold an apple by the stick and roll it in the sauce. You may need to tilt your pan to make the sauce deep enough to coat the apple. Once coated, hold the apple over the pan and shake gently to remove excess sauce. (At this point you can dip your apple in toppings like nuts and sprinkles, if desired).
7. Place the apple stick up on the prepared baking sheet until it has hardened. Repeat with remaining apples. If you don’t use all the sauce, it can be refrigerated and then reheated gently to coat more apples.

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