Poison Toffee Apples
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
These Poison Toffee Apples take a slightly healthier but eerie twist on the regular candy apple for a deliciously decadent Halloween treat.
Ingredients
  • 6-8 small Granny Smith apples
  • 6-8 lolly sticks/skewers/tough twigs
  • 1 cup coconut sugar
  • ¼ cup raw honey or maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
  • ½ cup water
  • ¼ tsp vanilla powder
  • 2 tbsp natural black food colouring
  • 1 tbsp natural red food colouring (optional)
Instructions
  1. Wash your apples and remove any stems by twisting them off. Gently skewer your apples with your sticks, firmly gripping the apple and pushing the stick no more than ⅔ of the way in to the apple. If any juice leaks out from the apple, blot with kitchen towel until the juice has gone. If you don't do this then you will find the chocolate will not coat your apple evenly!
  2. Line a baking tray with waxproof paper or non-stick baking parchment.
  3. In a saucepan over a medium heat, heat your coconut sugar, raw honey, black strap molasses, water, and vanilla powder stirring until the sugar dissolves. Clip a sugar thermometer or instant-read thermometer onto the side of the pan. Allow the syrup come to a full boil (do not stir) and cook the sugar syrup to just under soft crack temp stage - roughly 125°C/260°F. (Refer to the notes below to see how to check the syrup is ready.) If you find that your syrup is over done don't panic! Simply add a tbsp or two of water to the syrup and heat again until the desired texture is achieved.
  4. Remove from the heat and carefully stir in your black and red food colouring — the syrup will bubble up and sputter quite a lot so watch out!
  5. Dip and twirl your apples one by one through the toffee, shaking off any excess before placing on your lined baking sheet. Repeat until all of the apples are coated. Leave to cool for around 10 minutes before eating. Due to the nature of coconut sugar it is best to eat these on the day!
Notes
Due to the nature of coconut sugar the syrup can even be ready before the typical hard crack temperatures so just before you reach the soft crack temperature check the syrup using the cold water test - drop a teaspoon of the syrup into a glass of cold water and check the consistency of the syrup. It should form hard, brittle threads that break when bent. If you don't have a sugar thermometer then this is a great way of figuring out when your syrup is ready.

If you are finding it hard to coat the apples because the syrup has thickened then simply reheat the syrup on a low heat.

* All cup measurements used are UK cup measurements and so 1 cup = 250ml.
Recipe by Greens of the Stone Age at https://greensofthestoneage.com/poison-toffee-apples/