Thursday at DUP one of the gal's came in and told me that she had met a friend of mine and had spent the day with her. She was talking about Lisa Schneiter. I immediately text Lisa and she replied that we should get together sometime. I told her that I agreed and reminded her that I still wanted to learn to make caramel apples. She sent me a cute picture of some faux ones that she had made and said we really should get together. She told me she had all the stuff and invited me to her house so I could "make and take" one. She wasn't busy Saturday and so we set a time and I was beyond excited. I love learning new things and I was excited to learn from Lisa. I call Lisa, Martha Stewart because she is so talented and likes doing creative things.
(these one's aren't real)
Lisa had everything on her counter ready. She explained everything to me and told me why she likes it and where she buys it. To make the caramel apples today we used Granny Smith apples. We used Peter's caramel, white and chocolate melting chocolate, sprinkles, crushed butterfingers, cinnamon sugar, wooden sticks, big paper cups to put them in after, along with ribbon and tags and a clear bag. We had wax paper on the counter to catch the extra things we sprinkled on the apples. Lisa has decorating bags of hard chocolate that she reuses. I didn't know you could heat it up again and thought that was cool. We spread out the extra chocolates from dipping on wax paper so it could dry and harden and then Lisa just breaks it up and puts it back in the original bag. One trick that she told me but that we forgot is after you use the melted chocolate that are in decorating bags is to push the chocolate away from the tip. I think that just makes it less messy when you reheat it to use again. We wrapped the apples in caramel instead of melting it and I liked doing it that way. To prepare the apples she let them soak a little in hot water and vinegar (3 parts water and one part vinegar) to help get the wax off the apples. After the apples were wrapped we melted the chocolates and dipped the apples. Lisa uses glass measuring cups. (the taller ones are nice)
I learned that as soon as you dip your apple it is important to sprinkle the topping on it before it dries. ☺ The last step was to melt chocolate in the decorating bags or put the chocolate you already melted in a bag so that you can drizzle it across the top of the apples. Again, have sprinkles ready to sprinkle over that. The apples are finished unless you are planning on giving them away. Lisa showed me how she cuts them and we shared her cinnamon/sugar one. It was yummy.
If you are wrapping them there are big cups that you can get to sit the apple in. Then use a clear bag to put it in. Tie it and add ribbon. Lisa had some little tags that we used. I would have just used the tag but we backed them with another paper. (it looks better but the tag I had on a little gift for Lisa didn't have a back ☺) It is cute with just the tag and yarn but it's cuter to add a few different ribbons and really doesn't take that much longer. I was thrilled with the results!
Now I need to go shopping and get my own little supply of everything I need to make caramel apples. Lisa keeps everything in a closet in drawers so it is handy and organized. I could do that in my pantry. I love this cute friend and I'm so glad she was willing to have me over and teach me some of her tricks and share her talents. I think Lisa is awesome! Larry liked the apple...we sliced it after his first bite and shared it with Kimi and Jared.
