Caramel Apples

I interrupt this series to bring you a very unhealthy recipe. Every once in awhile we take a break from our healthy eating and enjoy indulging in something not so good for us. But, I hear that if you eat healthy the majority of the time that your body can better handle and process (digest) the not so healthy things. Hey, that works for me! So hopefully our bodies were ready to handle flushing out this toxin.

So, I actually don't like caramel apples. What? Say it isn't so. Here's the deal, usually they are made with really big green sour apples. I don't like sour apples even to contrast the sweet stuff you coat them in and I don't like huge apples where I eat all the caramel off and then there is all this sour apple left to eat. So, here's what I came up with and can I just tell you, I'm craving more and it's been two weeks. These were so good!

I started with small organic gala apples. Gala apples are a dessert apple which means they are sweet to start with (how appropriate...dessert!). We washed them and stabbed them with the sticks. We melted candy caramels that we unwrapped one piece at a time....I'm a sucker for doing things the old fashioned way...no peel and stick caramel for me. Then we melted Ghirardeli milk chocolates (I heard that Ghirardeli has no hydrogenated oils and since I didn't have my organic chocolate with me at the time- we were at my mom's house we went with Ghirardeli), Ghirardeli vanilla chips (way better than white chocolate), and peanut butter chips (I have no clue what that stuff is made of but I closed my eyes and melted it).

We spread, we dipped, we drizzled, we dipped and drizzled some more. We put them on a cookie sheet with buttered wax paper. YOU HAVE TO BUTTER IT! TRUST ME! We set them in the fridge for about an hour and then, OH MY GOSH! YUM! They were amazing. What a way to go off the healthy eating kick!

Instructions:
~The caramel was really smooth so we dipped all the apples first in the caramel using a spoon to help spoon the caramel over the apples.
~Then we put them in the fridge for about 10-15 min. to cool and harden up the caramel.
~Next layer was the peanut butter because it was the thickest. I used a knife and spread a layer of the melted peanut butter chips on them.
~The chocolates weren't so easy to dip so we took a spoon and drizzled the chocolate over the apples next. Once the peanut butter and both chocolates were on the apples we put them in the fridge. The topping got heavy and started to slip off a little so next time I think I'd refrigerate for 10 min. in between every topping.
~Once all the layers are on refrigerate for about 30 min or until ready to eat.
~If they've been the fridge for a long time let them sit out for about 15 min. before eating.

To see more pictures of our caramel apple family night visit here.