Chocolate Covered Caramel Apple Slices – but Healthier!

My Childhood Came Back to Life When I Made These

These chocolate covered caramel apple slices are pretty incredible, and they are the perfect fall treat for kids! With all the wonderful flavor and chewy texture of caramel and the rich crunch of a hardened chocolate coating, you can’t beat this indulgent taste of autumn (that’s healthier than you think).

The first time I made these – before I introduced them to my kids – I took a bite and was instantly transported back to my own childhood. The girls in my family used to travel to Frankenmuth, Michigan to go to Bronner’s,”The World’s Largest Christmas Store”, according to their website.

But even though we were shopping at a Christmas store, it wasn’t actually Christmas time. It was October, right in the heart of my favorite season, autumn.

And while we were there, we would always stop at another shop nearby that had the most amazing, giant, chocolate-covered carameled apples. We would cut into the thickly-coated apples and all share the slices that evening in the hotel room. Wonderful flavors, wonderful memories.

And that is exactly what this caramel apple recipe tastes like. It tastes like a memory. It tastes like a super sweet kids treat. It tastes like autumn.

Ah, autumn. With all of its spiced drinks, cinnamon apple donuts and pumpkin pie. In the midst of all the festive treats stands this other, less talked-about traditional fall dessert with all of its sugary sweetness to spike your children’s blood sugar.

Because, of course, traditional sweets come with lots of processed sugar, even corn syrup.

So … how could caramel apple slices end up on Naturally Sweetened Kids?

Well, despite how much these remind me of the carameled apples from my childhood, would you believe this recipe uses only maple syrup and raw honey as the sugar sources?

It’s true! But your kids would never guess that these chocolate-covered carameled apple slices are healthier. Because, as I said, they taste just like the carameled apples from when I was a kid. And the giant grin on my daughter’s face when I offer her these as a treat is all the proof I need that this healthier version of caramaeled apples will become a treasured part of her childhood memories.

When You Need to Make This Fall Treat

Not to sound bossy, but I’m going to tell you exactly when you need to make this caramel apple slices recipe. Because there is a very specific time when you need to make these. And I’m not just talking about in the fall or for Halloween (although those are obviously the seasonally optimal times to make them).

The very specific time you need to make these is right before you want to serve them. Well, maybe not right before, because you need some time to actually make them. You’ll probably want to start making these about 30-45 minutes before you want to serve them.

If you’ve ever bought caramel-chocolate dipped apples and saved the leftovers in the fridge, you understand why I’m saying this. Unfortunately, caramel apples just don’t stay fresh very long and homemade caramel apple slices are no exception.

These DIY caramel apple slices will look and taste their very best right after they are made. Once they are made, they have a short life before they become soggy, drippy and unpleasant to eat.

BUT don’t let this deter you from making them. Thanks to the preservative effect of vitamin c, you can prevent your apple slices from going brown and keep your caramel apple slices looking and tasting good enough to consume for a couple of days.

Per the instructions below, give your apple slices an invigorating bath in water with crushed vitamin c in it to keep them crisp and perky past their otherwise natural life.

You still won’t be able to make these caramel apple slices four days in advance, but if you make them a few hours or possibly even a day in advance, they will still be in pretty good shape to serve.

But I do recommend that you try to serve them within an hour of making them for the best presentation.

Ingredients

Apple

• Apple: Any variety of apple you like to use will work for this recipe. I usually use Gala or Fuji. It is not necessary to use Granny Smith to offset the sweetness of the caramel because the dark chocolate already does that.

• Vitamin C: Crushed vitamin c mixed into some water makes an easy and effective preservative for sliced apples when you let them soak for a few minutes. You can just use a regular vitamin c tablet from your medicine cabinet and crush it up with a mortar and pestle. Alternatively, place it in a bag and whack it with a spoon to break it up.

Caramel Coating

• Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is the natural sweetener used in the caramel. While the intense heating process required to make caramel likely kills a lot of beneficial nutrients in maple syrup, it is still lower on the glycemic index than table sugar or corn syrup – meaning your child will experience less of a blood sugar spike.

• Heavy Whipping Cream: Heavy whipping cream gives the caramel that creamy taste and texture. It also helps to balance out the intense sweetness of maple syrup. If you can get organic heavy whipping cream, that is ideal.

Chocolate Coating

• Butter: Butter helps create a smooth texture when melted with baker’s chocolate and helps to balance the bitterness of the chocolate and the sweetness of the honey. I use Irish grass-fed butter or organic.

• Unsweetened Baker’s Chocolate: This is the base for the chocolate coating on the caramel apple slices. Make sure you get unsweetened baker’s chocolate so that you can add your own natural sweetener.

• Raw Honey: Raw, unfiltered honey provides more nutrients and beneficial antioxidants than processed honey. It also solidifies better when cold. This raw honey is the best price I have found so far and it has worked well for me.

Topping

• Pecans: Just a little bit of crushed pecans makes a decorative and healthy topping. Make sure your pecans do not have added oils or salt.

Instructions

Apple

Step 1

Slice your apple into fourths.

Step 2

Slice the core off of each apple piece and discard.

Step 3

Slice each fourth into half-inch slices. You should end up with roughly 10-12 half-inch slices (depending on the size of your apple).

Step 4

Place apple slices in a bowl.

Step 5

Using a mortar and pestle, crush vitamin c into a powder.

Step 6

Sprinkle about 1/8 teaspoon of vitamin c powder over the apple slices. Add cool water to the bowl of apples and swish them around a bit to evenly distribute the vitamin c around the apples. Allow the apples to soak in the vitamin c water for about 10 minutes.

This helps to preserve the apple slices for longer and prevents them from turning brown.

Step 7

While apples are soaking, line a medium-size baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 8

After ten minutes, remove apples from water and thoroughly dry them with a clean towel or paper towels, laying them on the baking sheet once dry.

Caramel Coating

Step 1

To a small pot, add maple syrup and heavy whipping cream.

Step 2

Heat on the stove on high, stirring constantly. Once the caramel begins to bubble, insert your food thermometer and closely monitor the temperature as you continue to stir the caramel. Make sure to frequently scrape the sides and bottom of the pot to prevent burning.

Step 3

Once the temperature of the caramel reaches 230-235 degrees Fahrenheit, turn off the stove and remove caramel from heat.

Step 4

Spoon the caramel sauce over each apple slice so that it covers about 2/3 of the apple.

Step 5

Once all apples have caramel on them, place the baking sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes and prepare your chocolate coating.

Chocolate Coating

Step 1

Add all ingredients to a small pot on the stove.

Step 2

Heat on low, stirring frequently, until everything is melted and fully combined.

Step 3

Turn off stove and remove chocolate from heat.

Step 4

Remove the baking sheet from the freezer and spoon the chocolate onto each apple slice, covering the apple to just before where the caramel ends so that you can see both layers.

Topping

Step 1

Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the chocolate covering the apple slices (omit or substitute for nut-free).

Step 2

Place baking sheet back in the freezer for another 15 minutes before serving.

Step 3

Chocolate covered caramel apple slices are best served immediately.

They can be stored in the fridge covered or uncovered for up to 24 hours. After this point, they will still be edible but the caramel will start to run and the apples will begin to soften the longer they sit uneaten (but they probably won’t last that long anyway 🙂 )

Substitutions & Tips

• It is essential that you dry your apple slices after removing them from the vitamin c water. If you lay them on the baking sheet wet, the caramel will tend to slide off of them and it will also become more liquidy, making the apples soggy faster.

• To preserve more of the nutrients in the raw honey, you can mix it into the melted chocolate and butter after you have turned off the heat. This way, the honey will still mix in, but it won’t be exposed to as much prolonged heat.

• If you want these to be chocolate-free, you can certainly just do the caramel coating and skip the chocolate.

• Because the pecan topping is such a small amount, you won’t be able to chop them in a chopper. The best way to chop them into small pieces is to place them in a plastic, sealable bag and whack them with the back of a spoon.

• For a nut-free version of this recipe, you can skip the pecans or replace them with another suitable option. Shredded unsweetened coconut would be great on these if your child can have coconut.

• It doesn’t really matter whether you store the leftovers (if there’s are any) covered or uncovered in the fridge. Covering them might hold in more moisture which is what we want to avoid, so I usually just leave them uncovered. Since these can’t be kept very long even in the fridge, it’s perfectly fine to leave them uncovered.

• It’s best to consume these as soon as possible after they are made. They will continue to be edible for 3-4 days, but after day two, they will start to degrade noticeably in quality.