Making Cinnamon Candy Apples

At Ko-Ed Candies, we call them candy apples these days but when I was a kid almost everyone called them apple suckers. Still, from time to time, someone will come in looking for an apple sucker. No matter what you might call them, they are definitely a treat from time past that gets little respect from today’s young sweets consumer. There are so many more choices for snacks today than there was 40 years ago.

Candy apples are a great Autumn project for the candy maker hobbyist. That’s when the apples are fresh off of the trees and the varieties available are just awesome, especially if you live by one of the country’s big apple producing regions (south shore Lake Ontario) like we do. Since the apple will get a little cooked by it’s dip in 300 degree syrup, a firm, crisp, tart apple is best. We use Empire by far more than any other type although I do like Cortland early in the apple picking season.

Warning: you will be dealing with 300 degree Fahrenheit syrup. Be very careful and also keep a pot of cold water close to quickly dip your hand it if you pick up some hot syrup on a finger or hand. A dip in cold water will decrease the severity of the burn if you’re quick. Children assisting you need to be already experienced functioning around a hot stove and toddlers should watch while restrained (literally) at a safe distance.

While my recipe is not proprietary, and there really is nothing special about the ingredients of sugar, corn syrup, water, color and flavor. I won’t discuss those specifics here. It’s just a flavored syrup cooked to hard-crack stage and there are scores of similar recipes on the Internet. The only difference is my recipe’s (formula’s) yield is maybe 20 times larger. What makes my formula different from others is the procedure. Each candymaker’s procedures are the real secret and many of them are peculiar to the candy maker and his candy kitchen. Serious candymaker hobbyists will develop their own procedures over time and it’s those procedures that will be a large factor in consistent, superior results. Yes, this means inferior, inconsistent results are part of the learning curve but at least candy makers get to eat their mistakes!

This is a good point to be more upfront about my own procedures. As the pictures show, Sandy has taken over the making of candy apples as of 5 years ago. Among the many reasons, the main one was I couldn’t lead the kitchen and do center prep for the enrobing crew while making Candy Apples at the same time. When I managed to “fit it in”, it was either past when it should be done or done in a rush. Sandy took over the job and took my formula (actually my Father’s and I don’t know where he got it from) and using her personal philosophy of how a candy apple should be (from eating many, many candy apples ) - developed her own procedures. She was soon making Candy Apples superior to my mine and with an admirable consistency.

Flavoring can be almost anything you choose but most often found is no flavor (unflavored red colored syrup - BORING), cherry flavored and cinnamon flavored. We flavor our Candy Apples with artificial oil of cassia but for a small home recipe you could use cinnamon hard candies as the flavor. If you do use cassia for flavoring, avoid breathing in the fumes that flash off when the flavor is added to the hot syrup. As you can see from the pictures, Sandy gets her face as far away from the stove as possible. Just having exposed skin in the cassia fumes is slightly uncomfortable but directly breathing in the cassia fumes is akin to eating a tablespoon of some super-potent horseradish.

Since we’ll typically dip four to 12 dozen per batch, we’ve rigged up a holder over the kettle. For a smaller sized batch, individually holding by hand while the apple drains excess syrup, then flipping and twisting to place on a lightly greased tray or wax paper is sufficient. Sandy prefers her candy apples with extra big bottoms so she’ll do a second partial dip before traying.

The dipped apples only need a few minutes to cool before wrapping with cello. It is important to wrap them before the candy starts getting sticky from the humidity. We have found cello to be the best wrap. Be careful what you use to wrap the apples because some types of wraps will grab on and will only come off a little piece at a time.

Every October we’ll see at least one order for candy apple wedding favors and sometimes we’ll have multiple orders. Since we consider the apple to be best when eaten the day it was made and not quite as good (but still decent eating) the next day, we insist on making the candy apple favors the morning of the wedding. The picture is a candy apple favor we made in 2005. The tags were made by the bride and her family.

There are many “gourmet” Candy Apple formulas on the internet and there is no doubt this old-time candy has been jazzed up a dozen different ways for modern tastes. Sandy and I believe there is no topping the simplicity and utter goodness of a well made, fresh cinnamon candy apple, but you may have your own druthers. Have fun and good eating!

Please feel free to use comments below to ask questions, clarify points or add your own experiences.