Candied Apples Did Not Get Hard

by John

Can you tell me why my candied apples did not get hard on the outside?

Here's the recipe I used:

• 3/4 cup of H2O (water)
  
• 10 apples
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 1tsp. vanilla
  
• 1/2 cup corn syrup, light
  
• 8 drops red food color

1. Mix sugar, corn syrup & H2O in saucepan, low heat stirring til all sugar was dissolved.
   
   
2. Stopped stirring and let cook for 30 to 45 mins. I dropped a spoonful into water to see if it would harden it seemed to so I put the vanilla and food color in quickly.
   
   
3. I then dipped my apples on a stick into the hot mix and placed them on a greased sheet to harden.

They did not harden all the way. They are still a bit tacky after 2 days.

Help, what did I do wrong?

~Pappy (John) of the year by my grand girls for making them candied apples!

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Hi Pappy John,

How fantastic that you are making candied apples for your grand girls! :-)

My diagnosis would be that you didn't let the mixture get to a hot enough temperature.

Maybe you only brought it to the hard ball stage. In the water method that you used, the syrup should have become thread-like.

If you have a candy thermometer, you want to bring the syrup to around 300 degrees F. I'd say at least 290 degrees for candy apples.

You can read more about the candy syrup stages if you like.

Hope you can give it another try and reach success!

~Angie