While the rest of the country is enjoying the changing colors of autumn, we South Floridians have to make do with palm trees and sun. That doesn’t mean that we can’t get into the spirit of fall with some great fall spices, though! And, since October is the month for Halloween candy, I thought it would be fun to celebrate with homemade candy. Chocolate covered apple cider caramels, to be exact.

I originally stumbled across these while I was looking for a way to infuse apple flavor in caramel. It seemed like it had already been done before by adding apple cider syrup to the caramel mixture. You can buy premade apple cider syrup and save yourself a lot of time and trouble, but you can also make your own by buying a quart of cider and boiling it down on your own. And, I made them extra decadent by covering them in chocolate.

One thing that I noticed about the apple cider caramels is that they need to be cooked to a higher temperature than traditional caramel recipes. I was squeamish on my first attempt and cooked my caramel to 249 degrees. I wound up eating that caramel with a spoon. For these, I cooked my caramel to 253 degrees and they still needed to be kept in the refrigerator to stay firm enough to dip. I recommend using compound chocolate or chocolate melting wafers instead of chocolate that needs to be tempered for dipping the caramels. Otherwise, your cold caramel squares will ruin your temper during the dipping process.

Chocolate Covered Apple Cider Caramels

Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup boiled cider (see *NOTE at the end of this recipe)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup (optional, but will help with crystallization)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• Dark chocolate melting wafers (I used about 12oz)

Directions

Line the bottom and sides of an 8in square baking dish with parchment paper. Alternately, you can use silicone molds. I used silicone mini brownie molds.

In a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the cider, butter, sugars, cream, corn syrup, and salt. Cook over medium-high heat until the temperature reaches 253 degrees or until the mixture reaches the firm ball stage. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the cinnamon.

Pour the mixture into your prepared pan (or molds). Let the caramel cool completely, at least 2 hours. Remove caramel from pan and cut into small squares. If caramel is too soft to cut easily, refrigerate it to firm it up.

Melt the dark chocolate using your preferred method of melting. Dip the caramel squares into the melted chocolate, one at a time. Set on a parchment-lined baking sheet to allow the chocolate to cool and harden. Store candies in an airtight container.

*NOTE: If you cannot find boiled cider, you can make your own by boiling 1 quart of cider and reducing it until you have about 1/2 cup of liquid left.