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Bright red candy apples on a white marble styling board with glitter topped sticks on top.

Homemade Red Candy Apples

A perfect fall treat you can easily make at home with only a few ingredients for crunchy and delicious Granny Smith Apples covered a sweet, thin bright red candy coating.
5 from 4 votes
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Course: Appetizer, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: candy apple recipe, Candy Apples, Homemade Candy Apples, how to make candy apples, red candy apples
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 393kcal
Author: Karen

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 6 apples granny smith
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ½ cup corn syrup
  • ¼ cup water
  • ½ teaspoon red food coloring

Instructions

  • Wash and thoroughly dry the apples. Insert a stick into the top of the apples and set aside.
  • Prepare a baking sheet with wax paper, sprayed with cooking spray. Set aside.
  • In a small saucepan, mix the sugar, corn syrup and water and attach the candy thermometer to the side of the pan, ensuring that the bottom reaches the mixture.
  • Cook the mixture over medium heat, until the candy thermometer reaches 300 degrees.
  • Remove the pan from heat and stir in red food coloring until desired color is reached.
  • Dip each apple into the melted sugars, allowing access to drip off. Dip each apple 2-3 times before setting them on the sprayed wax paper to set.

Notes

Expert Tips for Making Red Candy Apples:
It is important the apples are 100% dry before coating them.
Making the candy coating is a slow process, be patient and stay nearby! Things move VERY quickly towards the end. 
If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you can make a pretty close guess to when the candy is done cooking when a spoon forms a thin thread when being lifted from the mixture. If it pours off easily, it’s not done. 
I used about ½ teaspoon of red gel coloring to get this shade.
If the candy mixture sets too quick while dipping, place the mixture back onto heat to re-melt.
I used sticks from outside for these! To make them yourself, gather 6 sticks about twice the height of the apples you are using. Wash them and allow to dry overnight. Using modge podge, coat the top half of each stick and apply glitter. Seal in place with a second coat. 
To easily clean your pans after this recipe, add water to the empty pan and bring to a boil. This will make it easier to clean the candy off!

Nutrition

Calories: 393kcal | Carbohydrates: 102g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 195mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 85g | Vitamin A: 98IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 1mg
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