Wicked apples

Wicked

apples

You don't need to be a fang-tastically experienced cook to rustle up toffee apples at Halloween. Get creative and give them your own spooky spin.

Hands up who associates Halloween with apples? Whether playing ducking apples or bobbing apples or getting your teeth stuck into a toffee apple, you'll often find the fruit making an appearance at the October festival.

It's no surprise that the two have long been entwined as Halloween falls after September's apple harvest, when apple stores are full. Anyone with an apple tree in their garden will appreciate how, on a good fruiting year, it's a mission to find ways to use the glut of fruit. It's therefore easy to imagine that, in times gone by, rural people would have had fruit left over for games and sweet treats once the main harvest had been preserved and stored. LIFE SKILLS

Celtic roots

Halloween is an incarnation of the Celtic festival of Samhain, which falls as the days are contracting into the darkness of winter. Historians suggest that apples became associated with Samhain due to the ancient Celts’ fear that the sun would not return. To encourage the sun god, Lugh, they lit huge bonfires, tied apples to branches and made offerings of fruits and nuts.

Apple bobbing

Apple bobbing and apple ducking, the traditional games played during Halloween celebrations, originally hailed from Roman Britain. The Roman tradition was for young unmarried people to try to bite into an apple floating in water or hanging from a string on a line – just like we do. They believed that the first person to bite into the apple would be the next to be married.

The big apple

Halloween is a major festival in America and it has influenced how we celebrate the occasion in the UK – from fancy dress to toffee apples. The latter are believed to have been the invention of confectioner William Kolb of Newark in New Jersey.The story goes that, sometime around 1908, he accidentally dropped some apples in his vat of bubbling sugar syrup and realised he'd created something pretty good. In recent years, toffee apples have been joined by their younger sweet sibling, the choccy apple, which is even easier to decorate for Halloween wow factor. Happily, both are dead easy to make at home, so why not give them a whirl?

Top tip

Don't keep toffee apples in the fridge as the moist air will makes the toffee melt. Ideally, make them on the day you plan to eat them. Choccy apples, however, can be stored in the fridge or a cool place for a few days.

Toffee apples (Makes 8)

Ingredients

Apples 8, medium sized

Greaseproof parchment

Sticks 8 (available at supermarkets but chopsticks, metal straws or even forks will do) Golden syrup 420g Castor sugar 200g Salt generous pinch

Method

1. To prepare the apples: put them in a colander and pour a kettle of boiling water over them to melt the waxy covering (this helps the toffee stick to the apple). Wipe the apples dry with a tea towel then place them on a piece of parchment. Push the sticks firmly into the apples, leaving enough room to hold each stick.

2. Put the golden syrup, sugar and salt into a small saucepan and heat over a low heat. Stir occasionally until everything is melted and mixed together.

3. Turn up the heat to medium and simmer the toffee until it starts to smell of caramel and gets to the hard crack stage. To test if it has reached this stage drop a little into cold water. If it sets hard, it's ready. If it's still sticky, keep heating it and repeat. Word of warning: the toffee will be incredibly hot, so take great care.

4. When the toffee is at the hard crack stage, turn off the heat and let it sit for a minute. Then dip the apples, in turn, into the toffee, twirling to cover the fruit. Don't go for too thick a layer or it will be difficult to eat without breaking your teeth! Place the apples on the parchment and leave to set.

apples Choccy

Ingredients

(Makes 8)

Apples 8, medium sized Chocolate 400g, broken into pieces (whichever type you like best) Sticks 8

Greaseproof parchment

Method

1. Prepare the apples as on the previous page.

2. Quarter fill a small saucepan with boiling water from a kettle and put it over a low heat on the hob. Place a heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan, making sure it doesn't touch the water below it. Put the chocolate pieces in the bowl.

3. Melt the chocolate, giving it a stir every now and then. When melted, dip each apple in turn into the chocolate, twirling the stick to build up the thickness you require. Place the apples on the parchment and leave to set in a cool place.

Get creative

If you're going to decorate the apples by dipping them in sweets, choc chips or chopped nuts, do this as soon as you've dipped them in the toffee or chocolate, then leave to set.

You might consider making 'poison' apples by colouring the toffee with black food colouring. Or how about colouring white chocolate green and using additional fondant icing to decorate?

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