Toffee Apples

It's the season of witches and magic, fire and toffee so we thought you might like to have a go at making your own toffee apples. 








Ingredients
450g Caster Sugar
100ml Warm Water
2tbsp Liquid Glucose
1tsp Distilled Vinegar
1/2tsp Red Food Colouring
8 Small Apples

8 Lolly Sticks

• Place the sugar, warm water, glucose and vinegar into a large saucepan. Whilst stirring, gently heat through to dissolve the sugar, do not boil at this stage.
• Once all the sugar has dissolved, raise the heat and bring the toffee to a good rolling boil. Once dissolved, add all the remaining ingredients, turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Using a sugar or toffee thermometer boil to 140°C / 270°F This can take 10 – 20 minutes.
• If you do not have a sugar or toffee thermometer, take a jug of cold water and once the toffee has started to thicken, drop a little of the toffee into the cold water. The toffee should solidify as it hits the water and when you remove it from the water, the toffee threads should still be slightly flexible not brittle. If the toffee is soft continue to cook.
• While the toffee is boiling, place the apples in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for a few minutes then remove from the water and rub the apples with a tea towel and dry thoroughly. The hot water and the rubbing will remove any waxy surface from the apple. You may have to do this in two batches. Once all dried, remove the apple stalks and push in a chopstick or lolly stick.
• Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
• Once the toffee is ready, remove from the heat and leave to stand for five minutes to let the bubbles subside. It is important to wait until all the bubbling calms dowm to create a smooth surface on the apples. Once the bubble shave stopped, add the food colouring and stir gently.
• Working quickly, tilt the pan slightly and dip the apples into the toffee and twizzle around to completely coat the apple. Lift from the pan and allow any excess toffee to drain away. Stand the toffee apple onto the baking sheet and leave to set, around 20 minutes, longer if possible. If the toffee starts to thicken and go hard, place back on the heat and warm through but do not boil. If you are not eating the toffee apples straight away, wrap in cellophane.

Halloween

A strange time of year filled with fun but with a sinister background. I'm going to focus on the cake side of things but maybe that's not much better... A soul cake is a small round cake  traditionally made for All Saints Day or All Souls' Day to celebrate the dead.

Bonfires were lit to ward off evil spirits and, it is said, an ill-fated lottery began. If you were unfortunate enough to select the burnt cake you wouldn't see it through the night... human sacrifices are said to have been made to ensure good crops the following year.

However, there is an alternative... while soulers (mainly children and the poor) went around the village singing and saying prayers for the dead. It is said that each cake eaten would save a soul from Purgatory. Perhaps this was the beginning trick-or-treating. I prefer this idea. Whatever the truth is be careful what you eat this week!