Sweet treats

Toffee apples recipe with nuts and seeds

8

With Halloween and Bonfire Night on the horizon, some sweet treats are on the agenda. This recipe for sticky, nutty, toffee apples are the perfect way to get in the spirit of autumn.

You’ll need good strong twigs to act as handles for your toffee apples. This can make a fun foraging activity to do with the family on a chilly afternoon. You can also use any leftovers to make your own autumnal decorations too.

Apples come into their own at this time of year. This recipe is ideal for using up an abundance of windfalls. Plus, apples bring with them many helpful wellbeing benefits. Apples contain great sources of both soluble and insoluble fibre. Soluble fibre, including the pectin found in apples, helps prevent the build up of cholesterol in the blood vessels, decreasing the risk of arteriosclerosis and heart disease. Insoluble fibre provides bulk in our intestinal tract helping cleanse and move food more quickly through the digestive system.

Prepare your toffee apples in advance and display them in a pumpkin for a fun – albeit tempting – autumnal decoration.

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Ingredients

  • 8 apples
  • 400g muscovado sugar
  • 150ml apple juice
  • 1 tsp cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1 tbsp nuts or seeds
  • 1 tbsp muesli
  • Strong twigs

Method

  1. Wash the apples, dry well and remove the stalks. Wrap a small square of baking parchment around one end of each twig and insert halfway into each apple. Place on a parchment-lined baking tray.
  2. Place the sugar and a little apple juice in a large pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then add the rest of the apple juice, honey and vinegar and bring the mixture up to the boil for around 7-8 minutes. To check it’s ready, drop some of the toffee into a bowl of water. If it sets immediately, it’s ready.
  3. Take the pan off the heat and mix in the nuts before dipping each apple into the toffee. Let the excess toffee drip back into the pan and then sprinkle the muesli on top. Place toffee apples upright (in a pumpkin with holes drilled in is a good idea). Leave them to cool and set completely before enjoying.