When there were 12 days till Christmas, my little girls and me...

Make caramel apples with red and green sprinkles of course!!!

We had one of my dearest friends over and our 3 kids made caramel apples until our hands felt like they would break!  It was so much fun and the apples looked so festive!!

Here are the finished products... easy and gorgeous!!

When you have dipped and rolled all of your apples, you put them the freezer for about 10 minutes.  When they come out they are super easy to cut and they are just beautiful on the plate.

Of course I wouldn't tell you about all this holiday goodness without leaving you the recipe...Here it is, now go make you some apples!!

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First you need to make your caramel, and let me just say that you should NEVER EVER buy the candies and melt them.  Who knew that this version took less time, tasted a million times better, and doesn't break any teeth?

Here is what you'll need...

1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of corn syrup (we used light but you can use either light or dark)
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 heavy cream
1/2 cup of condensed milk (drink the rest of the can...or is that just me??)
2 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

And here is how you do it...

Add all of the ingredients to a heavy sauce pan except for the vanilla extract and cook over medium high heat.  While the candy cooks, boil water in a second pot to create a double boiler.  Stir the caramel constantly until it reached 236 degrees.  This is probably the only tricky part.  Caramel is very finicky and will literally burn and turn black and ruin your pan at 237.  Watch it like a hawk and use a candy thermometer.  When its the right temperature, place the pot with the caramel in the pot of boiling water and turn the fire off.  The boiling water in the second pot will keep your caramel nice and soft for you to dip your apples in.  Now you will stir in the vanilla and go to town with your apples.

We poked skewers into our apples so that they would be nice and long for flexibility, and it worked wonderfully.  After we dipped them in the caramel, we let them sit for a few seconds before we coated them.  When you are ready to coat them, use paper plates and every single possible ingredient you have on hand.  We used M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, pecans, and red and green sprinkles.  Roll away and then remember to put them into the freezer for just a few minutes to make them easy to cut.  Then you just slice them around the core!!  DELICIOUS!!!  


So, what have yall been doing to make this holiday season enjoyable??