Delux Caramel Apples

I just made these yummy caramel apples as gifts for some friends.  My son's eyes nearly popped out when he saw them.  They are a great gift that wont break the bank and in my opinion, the best kind of gifts are the ones you can eat.  I think they are especially nice in the fall since you can get the best apples now.

Simple caramel apples are very straight forward:

-  Wash and dry your apples thoroughly
-  Melt caramel in a sauce pan with a tablespoon of water, stir often (I burnt mine a little which you can see, but you can't taste those little dark marks...plus I then covered them with chocolate so it really didn't matter
-  Remove caramel from heat and dip (reheat if caramel becomes too thick)
-  Place caramel apples on parchment paper and allow to cool

Bags of caramel often come with the popsicle sticks.  Since these are gifts, I wanted to make them a little nicer so I purchase round wood candy apple sticks at a candy making store.  After dipping the apples in caramel I then drizzled them with milk chocolate melting chocolate.  I melted the chocolate in a one cup glass measuring cup with a spout.  The spout allows you to get the thin drizzle.  It works best if you hold the measuring cup about a foot away from the apple when drizzling since it gives you a thinner stream of chocolate.  While the chocolate was still wet I sprinkled the apples with crushed butterfinger bar.  I put them in fridge to cool and then drizzled them a second time with white chocolate.  Refrigerating them causes the chocolate to get a nice shinny surface.  If you let them cool on the counter the chocolate may appear dull when it hardens.

I think four layers (caramel, milk chocolate, butterfinger, white chocolate) makes for a nice visual effect, but you could use any number of layers with any kind of candy of nuts.

Sweet Summer in the City

Sockerbit: 89 Christopher Street, NYC

I recently heard of two candy shops downtown and decided that my family should spend the morning checking them out.  Our first stop was Sockerbit in the West Village (probably my favorite neighborhood in Manhattan).  I learned about this shop from a Martha Stewart Blog Post.  Sockerbit is a candy shop that specializes in Swedish Candy...or in other words, gummy candy.  It is a striking, all white store with rows and rows of colorful candy.

My husband, son and I were in heaven.  Though it was a little tricky keeping my son's little fingers out of the bins.

The candy we purchased was delicious and the people who worked there were very knowledgeable about their selection.  We will definitely be back.

Sockerbit window display

Next we walked about a mile to PapaBubble located at 380 Broome Street in Soho.  PapaBubble is a candy store that makes handmade hard candies and lollipops.  

Their kitchen is right in the shop and you can watch as they layer and role the warm candy into beautiful creations.  When we were there they were making red, white and blue candy that said "Queens" for their borough candy mix.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Nautical candies

Test tube candies....great gift idea!

Many of their candies are available for mail order on their website, so you don't have to live in NYC (or one of the many European cities where they have their storefronts).  Papa Bubble also makes custom candies.  My understanding is that you have to buy a pretty substantial amount (about 100 small bags is the minimum), but they would certainly make a memorable party favor.