My childhood memories are dominated by food. I can hardly remember days spent with my friends, birthday parties, or the fact that I was apparently afraid of men with glasses for several years, but I can distinctly remember a trip on my sixth birthday to a place called Johnny's in Port St. Lucie, Fla., that had the best lemon meringue pie I've ever had. I can also remember that my brother Rob always asked for Nestle Tollhouse pie for his birthdays, that my brother Jeff asked for barbecued spare ribs and cheesecake for his, and that my friend Lisa had a great obsession with dipping her French fries in cardboard cups full of mayonnaise at the school cafeteria, proceeding to lick the cups empty when she ran out of fries.
So, every time I come home to upstate New York in the fall, I have a strong urge for a candied apple. Not an autumn went by during my childhood that I didn't bite into one, nearly cracking my front teeth and ending up with a red-stained chin.
On my latest trip home, my desire for a candied apple was so strong that I nearly succumbed to the temptation of buying a pre-packaged candied apple mix at the local Great American. But then I imagined the lack of blog-ability that would entail, and I feared such laziness would make me feel eerily similar to Rachel Ray or that "Semi-homemade with Sandra Lee" woman.
And that, my friends, is a nightmare worse than any Halloween horror flick.
(Instead, I found a simple recipe for candied apples, and stuck twigs from my backyard into the apples for a homey touch)
Candied Apples
(makes 6 medium-sized apples)
(from Martha Stewart)
Waxed paper
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (optional)
6 medium apples
1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper, and set aside. In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine sugar, 3/4 cup water, corn syrup, and food coloring, if using. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to medium-high. Boil until it reaches a hard crack stage and is very thick, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, insert a wooden stick into the top of each apple, pushing about halfway through; set aside. When mixture reaches temperature, immediately remove from heat. Working quickly, dip apples in sugar mixture until completely coated. Transfer to prepared baking sheet; allow to cool.
1 comments:
Thanks for sharing this story from your life, I could relate alot. I also loved the picture of the apples. I know that you said you picked up sticks from your back yard to put in the apples. What I want to know is there any preperation you do to them before putting them into the apples? I would love to do this for family and friends, I just want to be sure that there won't be any ill effects. My name is Londi and my email address is londibanes@yahoo.com. Thanks again for sharing and for your time!
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