It's not quite December yet, meaning it's definitely still autumn, so it's still the perfect time of year for caramel apples! And although you can easily get caramel apple kits, I'd like to share my own recipe using homemade caramel!

Ingredients:
- 6-8 apples (the best choices for this tend to be the more tart ones--I went with 4 Granny Smiths and 4 McIntoshes for my batch)
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup of corn syrup
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp of condensed milk
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Recipe:
1. Heat up a full kettle of water and pour it into a large bowl or pot. Wash the apples in the boiled water for about 10 seconds each, being careful not to burn yourself (use a ladle or other such device if it helps, and lower them in by the stems if possible), then set them aside and let them dry off.
2. When the apples have cooled, pull out their stems and push a craft stick or skewer firmly through the middle of each apple from the top down for a handle. If using skewers, you'll want to break them to a shorter length to help them handle the apples' weight better, and double them up if still unsure--I recommend two for the Granny Smiths, taped together for even more support, and one should be enough for the McIntoshes.
3. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper and coat it in nonstick cooking spray. If you have either no cooking spray or no parchment paper handy, use wax paper instead.
4. Mix the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk together in another pot over medium-high heat. Bring it to a boil, stirring constantly to combine the ingredients well, and reduce the heat to medium.
5. Cook the mixture, stirring frequently to prevent burning. A small spoonful of the mixture dropped into ice-cold water should form a firm, chewy ball. Once it reaches this stage, it's done. If you have a candy thermometer, you should cook until it reaches about 250 degrees F. This should take about 20 minutes.
6. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
7. Working quickly, dip each apple into the hot caramel, completely coating them, then place them on the prepared tray and decorate them with any desired toppings while still hot. I gave some of my apples a simple decorating with rainbow sprinkles.
8. Let the finished caramel apples cool on the tray for 2-3 hours before eating. If you can put them in the fridge, this will help the process along nicely and make the caramel nice and firm.
And there you have it, a nice tasty batch of caramel apples! You can even make them in advance for whatever you want to serve them during, since they keep well for quite some time in the fridge--the ones in the picture stayed in great condition for a week before I took their picture and ate them! And if you have trouble eating them off the stick, don't worry, there's no shame in cutting it up and eating it in slices! :3