Monday, October 20, 2008

Day 14 - Caramel Apples


Tonight I made caramel apples. I don't know if I've EVER made caramel apples entirely on my own without the supervision of my mother.
When I was a kid, my interest in making caramel apples lasted about as long as it took to get the caramels unwrapped. Then I was all, are they done yet????
That was how I 'made' caramel apples in my house.


Every year, Papa Cash and I go over to the rich part of town to see the pumpkin display. Hundreds of pumpkins are available for kids and their parents to carve, and they supply the lights and the candles. This goes on for a few days, and the pumpkins are piled up on mountains of picnic tables and are lit and the little park has that wonderful waxy warm pumpkin guts smell.
There is usually music and food and candy for sale. And every year, Papa Cash and I buy a couple of slightly overpriced but delicious 'turtle' caramel apples- covered with caramel and chocolate and pecans. Mmmm.
One thing I've noticed, however, is the quality of the apple underneath this gooey deliciousness seems to decrease year after year.

So when we were in Door County - where the name of the game is overpriced everything- we passed a fudge shop that had some of the most luscious caramel apples known to God and man in its window.
They were covered in mounds of caramel, chocolate, nuts - one even had chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows piled on it. I had to go inside and see them for myself. I wasn't even planning on buying one- because I already planned on getting my caramel apple fix at the pumpkin party.

TEN BUCKS. TEN FREAKIN' BUCKS FOR A DANG APPLE WITH SOME STUFF ON IT.

Suddenly I became the mom in that old Eddie Murphy skit from Raw. You know, when he wants McDonalds, and his mom is all, oh no, Mama can make you a burger at home! Mama can make a burger better than McDonalds! I'm gonna go down to the orchard, buy a bag of apples, and make CARAMEL APPLES AT HOME!



So that's what I did. I even made it through the part where you melt the caramels and dipped them (although I'd bet five bucks if my mom were here, I'd have sort of disappeared around the time the caramels hit the pan) let them set, melted chocolate, chopped pecans......and I have to say that even though they weren't as professional looking, they were mighty tasty.

Take THAT, Door County.
Mother Firefly

2 comments:

Mandy Ann said...

FINALLY, something I can relate to - FOOD! Yumm, how I heart the caramel apples. I bought an apple at Pick N Save this weekend that looked soooooo good, I could not resist. It was big and plump and colorful and only cost $2.75. It was crap.
The "rich" part of town you are talking about -umm, where would that be?

Viking Wolf Woman said...

Pfftttttt- THAT is what I have to say about badly made caramel apples.

My apples were good but all that dipping and trying to cover the whole apple made me bored.

Two nights ago I cut up apples, melted a half bag of caramels with a couple tablespoons of vanilla coffeemate creamer. We just dipped the apple pieces into the warm caramel and ate it that way. Easier and delicious. DO IT.

And uh, the rich part of town would be not the part that is here where I write. Does that help?
hee hee.