Candied apples seem like the perfect treat for Tu B'Shevat, right? There's just one major problem — eating them! My neighbor made these and I brought them home from a community get together for my kids, who had seen them and each whispered in my ear that maybe they would be the lucky recipient of the party favor? It just so happened that many of the women didn't really know what they were, being that it's an old time treat, here in Israel, and so they left theirs on the table enabling me to bring home enough for everyone.
Unfortunately, after the big build up, the kids struggled to eat them, as the candy coating is hard and sticks to your teeth! My daughter ate most of hers and threw out the rest, my boys mostly licked theirs and put the remainder in the fridge, as it was time for bed, and a thorough teeth brushing! There were a few boys that brought their mom's party favor to school, and at least one threw his out half way.
So sadly, while these apples looked great, they weren't so successful in the culinary department. And my neighbor does not read my blog, so I don't have to worry about hurting her feelings. Even she said she was afraid to eat one lest her teeth remain stuck in the apple!
So my friends, I started to look up recipes for carmel coated apples, though they all involve milk and butter, which is fine but I need a non-dairy treat for Tu B'Shevat, as we'll be celebrating it on Shabbat after a meat meal, and as you may know, we don't mix milk and meat, meaning that we eat them separately, and after a meat meal we wait 6 hours before eating anything dairy.
Enough babble, the conclusion is that the best idea may be to make peanut butter chocolate coated apples! I found one recipe here, though will continue to look for something wherein one could melt the peanut butter into the chocolate? And maybe I'll make some with just chocolate and dipped in nuts, for those who don't love peanut butter. I'll keep you posted, any ideas?
If you want to try your hand at caramel apples, and do it without using that yucky corn syrup, and from scratch, I found two recipes, here and here. Happy experimenting in the kitchen, and get your kids involved too!
