Caramel apples....not that ooey gooey desserts are my thing, they are not. But these really are worth the fun of making them. These vegan dark chocolate caramel apples were so easy, well, easy because I cheated and melted my favorite vegan candy, Amore di Mona Caramela. The Caramela is a very realistic caramel, covered in dark chocolate. It claims to be vegan and low glycemic with agave as its sweetener. One would not suspect it is vegan; it is high end with a slightly burned rich taste that old fashioned homemade caramel would have had, in the olden days when caramel was not a nugget of corn syrup in small plastic wrapped cubes. I melted the dark chocolate covered caramel in a pot over low heat. Then, we skewered the organic crisp apples and dipped them in...the first time, the caramel coating slid right off so we scored the apple and poked it with a fork to create a little traction. That worked better.
We also as a wild extravagance used some Whole Foods sea salt chocolate caramel, not vegan, and they did not really melt very well so I don't recommend that route. As you can see, the results were less beautiful than the Amore di Mona healthier version. Adding nuts makes it a bit healthier, chopped almonds work well and peanuts are my favorite.
This is the prime season for apples although our favorite, gold rush are not out yet and I don't see many winesaps yet, my old standby. There are so many crisp and small varieties that offer the fresh picked flavor with which many of us grew up. So, after seasons of imported sweet fujis or galas it is nice to have the real thing, tart, crunchy and not worldly at all. The apple a day thing, that line about keeping the doctor away, well, it is really based on an old fashioned non hybrid tart flavorful apple full of antioxidanrts, so if you have resorted to grocery store varieties, you might want to seek out a farmer's market or a source of local fruits and get the down and dirty, even a little wormy real thing.
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