Nothing says fall like caramel apples—unless it’s Halloween candy! And if you’ve got leftover Halloween treats, you can combine those two favorite flavors into a fun fall activity: a DIY caramel apple bar.
To create the DIY caramel apple bar, start by setting out bowls of leftover Halloween candy. You’ll want to chop up larger candy bars such as Butterfingers or Reese’s pieces, and crush larger hard candy like Life Savers. Add a few less sugary options like popcorn, coconut, and nuts.
Then, melt down caramel chews with a little heavy cream, and do the same with leftover plain chocolate bars.
Set out both sauces along with the toppings and some apples or crabapples, plus sticks or skewers.
Let kids (and grown-ups) dip the apples in a sauce, then roll it in their chosen topping(s) to customize their own caramel apple.
It’s a fun fall activity for a rainy day, and a way to use up some of the Halloween candy and apple-picking stash!
And if you package up the ingredients along with our downloadable art and tags, a caramel apple care package makes a great gift for teachers, neighbors, friends or family, or a fun favor for Thanksgiving or any other fall gathering, like a fall wedding. Or, you can set the DIY Caramel Apple Bar up at Thanksgiving, and everyone can make their dessert as a fun activity. For the labels, art, and steps for how to put together Caramel Apples to Go, click here.
What You’ll Need
- Apples or Crab Apples
- Caramel chews (half a bag’s worth)
- Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars or minis (enough to add up to a cup of chopped chocolate pieces)
- 2 tbsp heavy cream (1 each for the caramel sauce and the chocolate sauce)
- Sticks or Skewers (1 for each apple)
Toppings! We used:
- Popcorn
- Chopped Walnuts
- Coconut Flakes
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Pretzels
- Chocolate Sprinkles
- Chopped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- Snowcaps
- Crushed Lifesavers
- Crushed Butterfingers
- Reese’s Pieces
How-To:
Step 1 Set out containers of toppings,
Step 2 Unwrap half a bag of caramels and melt by heating them with a tablespoon of heavy cream in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between. (You can also do this in a double boiler on the stove.) Set out next to the toppings and apples.
Step 3 Melt chocolate along with a tbsp of heavy cream in the same way. Set out next to the toppings and apples.
Step 4 Stick a twig in an apple or crabapple, twirl it in the caramel and dip it in the candy. Enjoy your custom caramel apple!
