Toffee Apples and Pears make the perfect snack for Halloween or Bonfire night. Crunchy fruit encased in a decadent layer of toffee and dipped in a choice of chopped hazelnuts or crushed pretzels. These are so good that they aren’t only for the kids.
Toffee Apples are a treat lodged in most of our memories eating them as a kid wrapped warm with our mitts on and crunching into them whilst kicking Autumnal leaves. You can now make this delectable treat at home and customise them to suit your taste!
Prep work goes a long way
This is a really easy way to make toffee apples but because of the high temperature that toffee gets to I recommend lining all your ducks in a row before starting. By that I mean get organised and prep your ingredients. We call this mis-en-place. Weighing out the ingredients and getting all the things you’ll need ready.
Prep your apples and pears.
The waxy coating of the fruit needs to be removed and if kept on the toffee won’t stick to it. But it’s easy to remove. Just put your fruit into a large bowl. Boil a large kettle of water. Pour the boiling water over the fruit and after a couple of seconds of the fruit being submerged, remove the fruit quickly (either drain it or spoon them out) and dry thoroughly with a cloth.
Prep your ingredients.
Weigh out the ingredients for the toffee and place near your stove top within easy reach. Chop your nuts and pretzels really finely (alternatively place pretzels into a zip-lock bag, seal and crush with a rolling pin.)
Prep your utensils.
To make the toffee on the stove you only need a saucepan and a candy thermometer as the sugar syrup needs to heat up to 150C to get to the hard crack stage. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer then boil for approx 12 minutes ad spoon a tiny amount into a bowl of cold water and if it forms hard threads immediately, then it’s ready.
Also set out a baking tray lined with baking paper and place your chopped nuts and pretzels in two separate bowls next to the tray.
There you have it- you are all set to make these lil’ beauties. The steps above allow you to work quickly and efficiently as it’s a surprisingly quick process making these.
Making these beauties
Once the sugar has melted and the sugar syrup has reached the correct temperature of 150C, the toffee is at the correct temp that when put in contact with the fruit, it will harden into a hard shell which is exactly what we want. We want that brittle exterior to crack when bitten. Pure joy!
When you get to dipping the fourth piece of fruit I noticed the toffee thickening and not coating so well. At this point place the pan back onto low heat on your stove and heat it again to the correct temp, you will see it liquidify before your eyes ready to dip again.
By having your chopped/crushed nuts and pretzels next to your lined baking tray, it makes it super easy to dip the toffee coated apples and then set on the tray to cool and harden (this happens quickly meaning you have to work quite quickly)
Customise your Toffee Apples and Pears
Here’s the thing about these… you can totally dip these into whatever you want.
Alongside the chopped hazelnuts and crushed pretzels, here are other things you might prefer to dip them into.
- Marshmallows
- M&M’s
- Melted chocolate
- Crushed Graham Crackers or Digestives
- Crushed oreo cookies
- Chopped pecans with a sprinkle of flaked sea salt.
You know what I mean- you can put WHATEVER you fancy on these babies! Or leave it will just the toffee. Totally fine too.
My favourite combination has to be the Toffee dipped pears with crushed hazelnuts. I mean those three flavours together are seriously epic!!
If you want some other Autumn inspired recipes then feel free to check out these:
Pecan Maple Shortbread Cookies. Recipe found here.
Apple Cider Caramel Cupcakes. Recipe found here.
Caramel Sheet Cake with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting. Recipe found here.
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Toffee Apples and Pears make the best snack when it comes to Halloween and Bonfire Night. Sweet crunchy fruit coated in brittle toffee and dipped in chopped hazelnuts and pretzels aren’t just for kids, the adults will love them too!
Ingredients
4 Apples
4 Pears
180ml water
400g (2 cups) golden caster sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
25g (2 tablespoons) butter
25g (1/2 cup) chopped pretzels
75g (1/2 cup) chopped toasted hazelnuts
Instructions
- Pour boiling water in a large bowl and dunk the fruit a couple at a time, removing them within seconds of being dunked in the water. This will remove the wax coating from the skin of the fruit and allow the toffee to stick to the skin and coat evenly. Dry the fruit thoroughly.
- Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and set aside. Push lollipop sticks into the apples and pears.
- In a medium heavy based saucepan, add 10ml water and the golden caster sugar and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and add the golden syrup, vinegar and butter and allow to boil for approx 12 minutes until the temperature reaches 150C on a sugar thermometer. This is the correct temperature for the sugar syrup to set around the fruit and crack when bitten into. Test by dropping a small amount of sugar syrup into a bowl with cold water and if it forms into hard brittle threads then its ready.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and then dunk the apples rotating them in the pan until fully coated and then immediately dip into the chopped hazelnuts or pretzels and place on the baking sheet up right to set. Repeat until all the fruit have been coated. Note: if the toffee feels like it is stiffening then place back onto a low heat to melt it back down taking care not to burn it. Once all toffee apples and pears have been coated and dipped, remove the lollipop sticks.
- Cut small strips of baking paper and place a couple over the hole and then push the stick into the original hole of the lollipop stick. Shape the ends of the baking paper into leaves and crinkle the paper slightly, if you like. Serve on the same day
Notes
1. Mis en Place- get all your elements ready before tackling these.
2. The toffee will be red hot so adults only to make this. Don’t let it drip on your skin as it will burn!
3. Work quickly after coating in the toffee to then dip in the hazelnuts and/or pretzels as the toffee does set quickly.
4. The size of twigs in my images are purely for aesthetic purposes. You’ll need much thicker ones if you actually want to use them to lift the apples and pears. The baking paper stops any dirt going into the fruit.
Keywords: Toffee, fruit, snack, halloween
I’m obsessed with these apples and pears! They are so beautiful. That shine is a food photographer’s dream.
I love every detail you attended to. I am unfamiliar with the term “salt strips”. Did you just cut parchment into leaf shapes? Did you crinkle the parchment first? Inquiring minds need to know.
Thanks for being such a wonderful inspiration.
Hi Cindy- My mistake- it should have read ‘small’. Typo. I have corrected it and added to cut the paper into leaf shapes if you like. Should have been more specific. Thanks for picking that up, Emma xx