Name: Pink Candy Apples
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 2 cups white sugar; 3/4 water; 1/2 cup white corn syrup; 6-8 apples; white food colouring; soft pink food colouring; assorted sprinkles

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Pink Candy Apples: homemade candy apples just like you used to get at the fair or carnival, but made even better in pretty pink.

For our pink Halloween party, I thought pink candy apples would be the perfect treat -and they were. I decorated mine for Halloween, but you easily leave off the spiders if you need them for a different celebration. They’re really fun for Halloween parties. They’d also be great for special birthday parties, or a pink baby shower.

Today I’m joining my friends for the Seasonal Simplicity Fall Series today, so be sure to check out lots more fun Halloween Treats at the end of this post.

Candy Apples vs. Caramel Apples

These are the traditional kind of candy apples that you would get at a fair or carnival, usually glossy red. They are hard and crunchy, and that’s exactly how they’re supposed to be. If you’re looking for a soft, creamy caramel apple check out my recipe for those here.

If you want to make traditional red candy apples, you can use this recipe and replace the red and white food coloring in the candy mixture with red food coloring.

How To Make Your Candy Apples Pink

It was easy to make these apples pink to fit our occasion. In fact, you could make them any colour you like to fit with any party theme or occasion. Purple candy apples would be so cute too. The trick to making these is to use some white food coloring along with the colour you’re trying to achieve.

Without the white food colouring, the candy would be transparent, and the apple colour would show through, like the traditional red ones. The white makes them opaque and you can add any other colour you like. This soft pink was exactly what we were going for. You will want to use gel food coloring for these when you make your own candy apples, as it gives the best, most intense color.

Choosing Your Apples

You can use any kind of apples you like for your candy apples. Choice red apples or green apples. Some people prefer to use tart apples, like tart granny smith apples, because the tart apple contrasts with the sweet candy coating. You will want a crisp apple. Other good choices are gala apples, or pink lady.

The biggest issue you will face making candy apples is having your candy coating not stick well to the apples. This happens when you try to apply the candy coating to waxed apples. Most apples you buy in the grocery store have been covered in a wax coating to make them look more appealing and shiny. If you are using grocery store apples you will have to remove the wax first.

The wax coating can be removed by dipping the apples in boiling water and then buffing the apples with a dry paper towel or tea towel. The hot water melts the wax, and the cloth allows you to wipe if off of the apple. Be sure to not leave your apples in the hot water too long though, because it can start to cook the apples slightly and cause them to turn brown and soft.

If you pick your own fresh apples, or buy them at an apple orchard you can skip this step, because they won’t have wax on the outside. That’s what we did for our candy apples.

Making The Candy Coating

Making your own candy is intimidating to a lot of people. It’s true that it can be tricky. You will need a candy thermometer. Using a thermometer is the easiest way to know when your candy is at the right stage. Candy experts use different methods to know when the sugar mixture is at the hard crack stage and right temperature. On your first try, or if you’re still a beginner, it’s definitely easier to use a candy thermometer to make the perfect candy apple, without all the guesswork. Candy thermometers are inexpensive and easy to find at any good kitchen shop, or on-line, and they’re good to have on hand for any hard candy making.

When working with the hot candy coating, you’ll also want to be careful to avoid sugar burns. This candy coating is very hot when you’re working with it, and also sticky and hard to remove. You don’t want to accidentally get it on your skin and burn yourself. Work carefully. If you do accidently get some of the candy coating on yourself, get the area into cold still water immediately to remove the sugar and soothe the area. This is not a great recipe to make with children for this reason. They can help you decorate the finished apples though.

Yield: 6-8 apples

Pink Candy Apples

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups white sugar
3/4 water
1/2 cup white corn syrup
6-8 apples
white food colouring
soft pink food colouring
assorted sprinkles

Instructions

We used small apples from an orchard that were not coated in wax. If you are using store bought apples that are coated in wax, you'll have to remove the wax to help the candy stick to the apples. To remove the wax, dip apples in boiling water and then buff the apples. Also add wooden skewers or a small dowel into the centre of the apple. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
To make the sweet candy coating, add the sugar, water, and corn syrup to a medium saucepan and combine. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a medium-high heat and add a candy thermometer into the mixture. Continue to boil until the candy reaches a temperature between 300-310 degrees. Occasionally brush down the side of the pan with cold water and a pastry brush to help prevent re-crystallization.
When the candy reaches 300-310 degrees remove from the heat, and add the food colouring. Adding the food colouring at the end prevents the white food colouring from turning yellow at all during cooking. I added around a 1/2 teaspoon of white colouring and just 1-2 drops of soft pink.
Working carefully and quickly because the candy starts to cool, tilt the pan and dip each apple individually. Coat the whole apple completely, and then left it drip off slightly to avoid excess drip forming a large puddle of candy at the base of the apple. Place the dipped apples on the parchment lined baking sheet to set. Take care working with the candy as it's very hot. Have a bowl of ice water standing by incase of any burns.
After the apples are set, decorate with sprinkles. Use some more light corn syrup as "glue" to adhere the sprinkles. We used a combination, including a plastic spider (not edible) spider candy, sprinkles, nonpareils, and edible glitter. These apples are best served the day they are made. Any humidity will make the apples sticky, so store in an airtight container

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 351Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 16mgCarbohydrates: 92gFiber: 4gSugar: 85gProtein: 0g

We used our pink candy apples for our pink Halloween celebration, along with lots of other spooky pink treats. Check out the whole party here.

Adding Sprinkles

As if being pink wasn’t special enough, we added the most beautiful sprinkles to our apples. After the colorful candy apples were set, it was time to make these pink candy apples extra special.

The trick to adding them was to use some light corn syrup on the set candied apples as edible “glue”. We started out with a larger plastic non-edible spider and added in lots of sprinkles, nonpareils, spider candies, edible gold stars and edible glitter. The glitter adds the most beautiful sparkle to these. We included the plastic spiders because they were so fun, and made sure to tell our guests that they were non-edible and to remove them before eating. If you were worried about including something non-edible you could just leave those off.

We love how our pink candy apples turned out! They looked so beautiful for our pink halloween party. They’d be such a fun addition to any special party or occassion. They looked so great on our dessert table and our guests loved them.

With pink candy apples, life really is a party!

More Inspiration

You might also like our Ghost Rice Krispie Squares here.

Also check out our Homemade Caramel Apples here.

And today I’ve joined some of my talented blogging friends who are also sharing their fun Halloween Recipe ideas with you! Just click on the links below the images to be taken directly to their posts.