Healthy Caramel Apples

 You know those family traditions that you just can't break, but you also just can't continue? Well, caramel apples for Halloween is that tradition for me. I remember the pure joy and excitement when it came time to make these sweet treats and I want my children to have that, but in a healthier way. I have been brainstorming for weeks on how I could make this happen and I finally got it!

 I have a food blog crush on The Nerdy Farm Wife. She is amazing and her site is full of DIY goodness. One of our favorites is her Nutty Caramels. They are pure bliss. When I was browsing around on her site recently I realized these little squares of caramel heaven were exactly what I needed to make my healthy caramel apple happen! All that is in this caramel is honey (get a good quality, it makes a difference,) nut butter and coconut oil.

 The kids washed the apples for me and I added popsicle sticks to each one.

 You start by bringing a cup of honey to 270 degrees....a candy thermometer is a necessity. Once this happens you remove from the heat and add 1 cup of nut butter and a tsp of coconut oil. You mix this all together over a cold water bath. Check out The Nerdy Farm Wife for full details.

 While I was making the caramel Emma crushed some peanuts to go on the apples. This is optional, but helps keep the caramel in place. You could also use shredded coconut.

 Once the caramel becomes thick it is time to dip those apples. You have to work fast because it keeps getting thicker as you go.

 The kids enjoyed rolling their apples in the crushed nuts, but were not happy when I popped them into the fridge for an hour or so. Once the caramel hardened I sliced it off the stick and I had a very happy family on my hands, continuing a very sweet tradition.

 We brought home a whole lot of apples yesterday, so we thought it would be the perfect time to make our shrunken apple heads. Spooky, right? Check out my full tutorial from last year for all the details, Shrunken Apple Heads. They are a lot of fun.