Toffee Apples

I had a helper in the kitchen today. I have a friend visiting and this is how today, her first full day in Scotland went.....autumn walk along the sea, pancakes for lunch (soooper doooooper spesh ones, recipe coming soon), watch 2 episodes of Mad Men, bake a pie, make toffee apples.

Really...can you think of a better day way to spend a day. I don't think I can when confined to Kirkcaldy in November, though we were going to swim in the sea but ended up not having a wetsuit each, and neither of us was keen to brave it without. That would have been the cherry on the sundae.

When someone visits you do you come up with an itinerary before hand? I do. And tomorrow evening, it being Guy Faulks night and all, we're taking our visitor to a fireworks party. That meant toffee apples were of course required and thankfully, she's someone that appreciates a couple of hours in the kitchen as part of an itinerary. 

Se here we are. Perfect day. I thought these would be a bit of a stress to make, particularly as I'm a control freak at the best of times, put me in a kitchen with a pan of boiling sugar and you can imagine the monster that could induce. But it went smooothly and the toffee set perfectly. Hurrah. Have fun tomorrow night...eat, drink, go oooh and aaaah. Just don't burn any body parts and create a 'safe space' for your dog, you can have that one for free, heard it on the news. With Love and Cake.

Toffee Apples

Adapted from BBC Food 

A few notes:

• The original recipe for these adds nuts to the toffee...we had some chopped and all ready to be sprinkled but the toffee'd apples looked so lovely and shiny we didn't want to spoil them, but maybe you fancy that, or maybe a few mistakes need hiding....
• If you don't have a sugar thermometer, you can test the toffee by putting a teaspoon of it in a glass of cold water and if it goes hard immediately it's ready. I'd do this after 10 minutes of boiling and if it's not ready boil for 5 minutes at a time, test again and keep going until ready. This took us longer that we though...a good 15 minutes.

Makes 8 small apples

You will need

greaseproof paper

lolly sticks

8 little apples- I used half russets and coxs

225g granulated sugar

110ml water

30g butter

2tbsp golden syrup

• Stick a lolly stick into the middle of each apple, from the stalk end to about half way through.
• Dissolve the sugar in a pan with the water over a gentle heat.
• Add the butter and syrup and bring to the boil.
• Boil until the mixture reaches 140°c and remove the pan from the heat.
• Dip and twizzle the apples in the toffee to cover and place on the greaseproof paper to set.
• Eat at bonfire party with a sparkler in the other hand...be careful though.