Mickey Mouse Caramel Apples

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Do you love Disneyland like I do?  They just make everything so much fun.  I love wandering through bakery and sweet shops to see the adorable treats that they hand craft right there in Disneyland.

On my last trip, I fell in love with all the variety of caramel apples in the shapes of many of the characters--but nothing beats a classic Mickey Mouse.  They are priced around $15 a piece, which seems high--but its cheaper than a price to Disneyland, so if you are at home and want to take on a tasty--but time consuming--project, then this one is for you.

Supplies:

12 Small/medium size apples
2 lbs Peter's Caramel, cut into squares (I bought mine at Orson Gygi)
1 lb White chocolate coating
1.5 lbs Milk chocolate coating
1/2-1 c. Red Decorating Sugar
24 Yellow or white jelly beans
24 big marshmallows
12 caramel apple sticks

Prep
Scrub the wax coating off the apples (or the caramel won't stick).  I filled a sink with hot water and a bit of white vinegar and soaked the apples, then used a paper towel to wipe them down.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (not wax paper)

• Push the stick into the apple, but don't let it go through the other side.
• Melt the caramels in a microwave dish--I did one pound at a time.  Microwave in 30-60 bursts, stir and microwave again until all hot and melty.
• Dip the apple into the caramel and swirl or use a silicone spatula to coat.  Lift the apple out and use the spatula to scrape caramel from the bottom of the apple.  Keep dripping, twirling and scraping the bottom and then place on the parchment sheet (that is so you don't end up with a puddle at the bottom of the apple).  Do 6 apples, then put in the fridge and get the rest of the caramel melted and do the last 6 apples. 
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• Add the "ears"  by heating up the caramel so its hot and sticky and dip one long side of the marshmallow to use as "glue" to hold the ear on the apple.  Repeat for the other ear.  You may need to hold the marshmallow in place for a minute to set. 
• Let the caramel and marshmallow ears set up 10-15 min in the fridge.
• While caramel is setting, clean out the bowl and get the milk chocolate coating melted.  Again, microwave in 30-60 second bursts until smooth and melted.  
• Dip the caramel apple into the chocolate and swirl, spoon the chocolate over.  Pull the apple out and twirl/scrape the bottom and place back on the parchment.  Repeat until all apples are done.  Let cool completely.  
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Now you have some decorating choices. 
To make the red shorts version:

• Melt white chocolate in microwave
• Dip the apple into the white chocolate so that it goes just about halfway up the apple.  
• Shake off the excess white chocolate and scrape the bottom (Warning:   You will probably get some of the milk chocolate bleeding into the white chocolate bowl--no worries, its will get disguised with sugar). 
• Do a second apple and then get ready to sugar the first apple (I discovered that if I worked with 2 at a time the chocolate was always soft enough to adhere the sugar--you don't want it to dry, otherwise the sugar won't stick)
• Hold the first apple over a bowl with the  red decorating sugar, use a spoon and your fingers to roll the apple in the sugar and press it up to cover the white chocolate--then do the second apple.
• Press the jelly beans into the still wet/soft red sugar and return it to the parchment.

Drizzle version:
Hold the milk chocolate coated apple over the bowl of melted white chocolate and use a fork or spoon to drizzle a string of white chocolate over the apple.

Package it up with a cellophane bag and some ribbon and yours are just like Disneyland's
 

Licorice Caramels

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One of my favorite memories of my grandpa is that he always had licorice in his front shirt pocket (he wore those Western style shirts with snaps on the pockets). My brothers and I all love black licorice--so it was no surprise that licorice caramels are a big hit around our house. I first had these tasty treats in college when my roommate made them for me. I'm pretty sure the recipe is from The Lion House Dessert cookbook, but I got it from Melissa and haven't been able to come to a family Christmas without it since. Even if you don't think you like licorice, you very well may love these (you can make the recipe without the anise and just use vanilla...or if you are busy like me, you make one batch of caramel and divide it in half and do both in one fell swoop). On years that I get my act together early, I wrap the caramels individually, other years I cut it into squares and stack in wax paper layers. I usually cut up my wax paper squares while the caramel is cooling in the pan.

Ingredients

1 C. butter

1 1/2 C. light corn syrup

2 C. white sugar

1 can sweetend condensed milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp black food paste

1/2 tsp anise oil (NOT extract)

In a heavy 6 qt saucepan mix the butter, syrup, sugar, sweetened condensed milk and salt. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring constantly until mixture reaches "soft ball" stage and a medium caramel color (around 225-235 on a thermometer...I never use one, I use a bowl of ice water and test it). Don't try and make the process faster by turning up the heat, it will burn.

Remove the caramel from the heat and add the anise oil and food paste. Let the caramel cool a 20-30 minutes in the saucepan before pouring it into a well-buttered cookie sheet/cake pan (if you pour super hot caramel, it will melt the butter and stick to the pan). Do NOT try and pour the mixture directly on wax paper, it will melt the wax and stick to the paper (learned the hard way). I usually use my kitchen shears (sprayed with Pam) to cut them into squares.