Bonfire night is fast approaching and we’re looking forward to the crisp and cosy evening ahead. For us, the 5^th November wouldn’t be complete without toffee apples. So, pop into your local Better Food, pick up your favourite organic apples, and transform them into the perfect homemade sweet treat using this simple recipe.

The toffee apples work amazingly on their own, but we recommend adding a handful of chopped nuts for extra flavour, or any topping of your choice!

Toffee apples

Ingredients:

Makes 6

6 red apples

6 wooden skewers or lollypop sticks

300g golden caster sugar

3 tbsp golden syrup

Sugar thermometer (preferable)

Chopped nuts (optional)

Method:

Prepare the apples

Put the apples into boiling water for 1 minute to allow their waxy coating to come off – this will help the caramel stick to the apple skin. Remove the apples from the water and dry them.

Push the skewers into the tops of the apples through the core, just enough so that the skewers are secure.

Rest the apples on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Make the caramel

Add the golden caster sugar, golden syrup and 5tbsp water to a medium sized pan. Swirl the water round until it covers the sugar. Heat the mixture on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Rather than stirring the mixture, gently swirl the pan.

Once dissolved, turn up the heat and boil the mixture until it reaches 140 degrees on a sugar thermometer. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer, you can test whether your caramel is ready by pouring a small amount into cold water – if it hardens instantly and is brittle when you remove it, it’s ready! If you can still squish it, it needs a bit longer.

Coat the apples

Once the mixture has reached 140 degrees, quickly dip each apple one by one into the caramel, tilting the pan to evenly coat the apples. Be careful not to touch the caramel as it will be extremely hot! If the caramel cools to become too thick, you can return it to the heat to loosen it.

You can now return the apples to the baking tray, skewer side pointing up, to cool. We’d recommend sprinkling the apples with chopped nuts before placing them on the tray.

Leave them for about half an hour and then enjoy!