Make gorgeous candy apples with Jolly Ranchers!
Everyone has seen candy apples before — you know, those whole apples dipped in a sugar candy coating with a stick inserted in the center for easy handling?
Well, these are similar, but instead of using a red cinnamon candy or a sugar mixed with corn syrup, water, cinnamon and red food coloring, then heated to the hard crack stage, we’re going to be using Jolly Rancher candies.
This way we won’t have to fiddle around with bringing sugar to the hard crack stage which, trust me, can be a bit difficult. Instead, we’re simply going to melt Jolly Rancher candies to coat our apples. Genius!
Once the candy has melted, we’ll simply dip our pre-skewered apples in, and voila, we’ll get candy apples.
And while the traditional color of a candy apple is red, since we’re using Jolly Ranchers, we’ll get some blues and greens as well. You can even toss in some edible glitter if you really want to bump up the visual appeal. (Amazon affiliate link.)
My kiddo helped me sort the Jolly Ranchers by color, then we used 50 to 55 candies per apple. To be most efficient, you can melt these in a 325° oven for about ten minutes.
I used Granny Smith apples because I like their tartness which balances well with the extreme sweetness of the Jolly Ranchers. For inspiration I watched Cupcakes and Cardio and the Sugar Geek Show.
Happy candy apple making, lovelies! 🍏🍎🍏
Easy Sparkly Candy Apples
Equipment
- oven
- deep pan or oven-proof bowl
- heavy skewers or popsicle sticks
- non-stick silicone baking sheet or parchment paper
Ingredients
- 100-150 pieces Jolly Rancher candies 1,3 pound bag
- 6 Granny Smith apples small to medium
- 1/4 tsp. edible glitter
Instructions
Removing Apple Wax
- Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Carefully lower an apple in the boiling water, count 3 seconds and remove to a towel to allow to dry. Repeat for remaining apples.
- Use another towel to thorough dry the apples. Water and wax cause the candy coating to bubble so make sure the apples are both clean and dry.
- Push a skewer into the top of each apple.
Coating Apples
- Preheat oven to 350˚F/177˚C.
- Sort the candies into the different colors and remove the wrappers. 50 candies coat ~3 small/medium apples. If you don't have enough of each color, you can combine pink and red, and green and blue.
- Place ~50 unwrapped candies into a deep pan or a saucepan that has an oven-proof handle. Place into the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the candies are completely melted.
- Use an oven mitt and place the melted candy on a heat-proof surface.
- Add the glitter and stir to combine. Return the pan to the oven to re-melt the candy.
- Use an oven mitt and place the melted candy on a heat-proof surface.
- Tilt the pan so that the candy pools at the bottom. Hold the apple by the skewer and dip it into the melted candy. Slowly twirl the stick to coat the apple. Lift the apple straight up to allow the excess candy to drip off.
- Place the apple on a silicone baking sheet or a parchment lined baking pan.
- The candy will cook in a few minutes and are best served soon after making.
Notes
- To clean up: allow the remaining candy to harden in the pan. Tap the cooled pan on a hard surface to break the candy up. Remove as much of the candy as possible. Soak the pan in warm water and in an hour and te last bits of candy will dissolve.
- I recommend using a knife to cut the apple into wedges to serve.
- I used NFD’s edible glitter dust (affiliate link).
- This recipe was inspired by Cupcakes and Cardio.
Hi, I was just wondering if these have to be eaten right after making? I imagine the candy gets too hard to eat once it sits for a while or if they get too cold?