Recipe: Apples with caramel sauce

Last week, I published a barbacoa tacos recipe for Día de los Muertos. But for those of you purely Halloween celebrants, I’m posting this more traditional autumn recipe. While it’s not your typical ghoulish party food, I find it’s one of the few Halloween themed dishes I’ll actually make in my kitchen. I like that it’s simple, delicious, and appreciated by both adults and children.I actually just served this dish over the weekend at a get-together at our house for the World Series watch party (go ‘Stros!). It’s not overly sweet, refreshing after a heavy fall meal, and you feel less guilty because there’s fruit involved.So this Halloween, go ahead and make this caramel dip for your guests, your kids, and yourself. It’s a lot tastier, cleaner, and easier than making traditional caramel apples.Happy cooking!

Recipe: Apples with Caramel Sauce

Notes: You can serve this fondue-style and have people dip their apples in the sauce, or you can let guests drizzle the caramel onto their own plate of apple slices. If your caramel sauce breaks, you can use an immersion blender to emulsify it.

Ingredients

• 10 to 14 ozs baking caramel chips or squares
• 1 (8 ozs) pkg cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c brown sugar, divided
• 1/2 c chopped roasted nuts, such as walnuts or peanuts (optional)
• 6 Granny or other sour apples, cored & sliced

Instructions

1. Make sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt caramel with 1/4 c water, stirring frequently. Add cream cheese and cook until incorporated, stirring frequently. Add sugar 1 tbsp at a time if using until desired sweetness is reached; transfer to bowl.
2. Sprinkle sauce with nuts or serve them on the side with apples.

Active time: 15m
Total time: 15m
Yields: 6 to 8 servings