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Salted Caramel Apples

Happy week-before-Halloween! My girl and I made caramel apples a couple of weeks ago, and we had so much fun, we're doing it ...

By thepioneerwoman · From Open Recipes · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,501 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8
Prep30 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Wash the apples well, dry them completely, and remove any stems. Push a chopstick firmly into the stem end of each apple, about halfway in, and set them on a parchment-lined tray.

  2. Unwrap the caramel melts and place them in a heatproof bowl with the heavy cream, vanilla, and a dash of salt. Set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water.

  3. Stir the caramel gently until completely smooth, about 15 to 20 minutes. If it is too thick for dipping, stir in a little more heavy cream, one spoonful at a time.

  4. Arrange the toppings in separate shallow dishes: mini M&Ms, crushed pretzels, kosher salt, chocolate chips, coconut, crushed pecans, and crushed saltines.

  5. Tilt the bowl and dip each apple into the warm caramel, turning it to coat, then lift it out and let the excess drip back into the bowl.

  6. While the caramel is still wet, roll or sprinkle each apple in one or more toppings so you get a mix of sweet and salty varieties.

  7. Return the coated apples to the parchment-lined tray. Let them set at room temperature for 10 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until firm.

  8. Serve chilled. Keep any leftover apples refrigerated in a covered container.

By thepioneerwoman. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Apple + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,501 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vanilla + coconuttop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Vanilla + chocolatetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,018 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Chocolate + pecanstop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Coconut + pecanstop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together394 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, cream, vanilla, chocolate, coconut):

  1. Cocoaabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Almondabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Peanutabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, cream, vanilla, chocolate, coconut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).