Welcome to the latest edition of Food52 founder Amanda Hesser’s weekly newsletter. Hi, I’m Amanda.Packed with food, travel and shopping tips, Food52 activities, and other things that catch your attention. Get inspired: Sign up here for their emails.
This week, let’s get right to everything happening around Food52 and save my cooking woes for the end of the email.
I saw this bottle of salad dressing at a recent product review meeting and thought, This is the kind of product our community will love. We’re launching it this week and I hope you’ll agree!
There are interesting things happening with concrete these days, including these heated outdoor benches. Patrick Cain, an environmentally-focused home company, has designed a series of beautiful containers for everything from fruit to your keys. I like this burly one.
It’s mug season and this year we have a self-heating mug that you can keep on your desk.
Caesar and Baked Wineries Author Paola Vélez collaborated on a video of Paola’s homemade Cosmic Whoopie Pies. It’s a little unhinged and crazy. I think you will like it.
The lodging season has begun and we’ve got you covered with lodging tips and 25% off our Store. If you’re a member of The Table, you’ve already heard it. Everyone else, get your carts ready for tomorrow so you can stock up on plates, napkins, and brandy glasses (for you, after your guests have left and you’re sitting on the couch scrolling through IG).
Speaking of hosting season, Jessie Sheehan stopped by to show us this no-recipe recipe that had people losing their minds on social media.
Recently, over lunch, my husband Tad and I wondered if the foods from our childhood would taste as good as we remembered them. Would the cinnamon monkey bread your mother bought at Zahn’s in Buffalo be as sticky and fragrant? Would my grandmother’s beef jerky be as smoky and salty?
“Or how about a candied apple?” -Tad asked.
That took me out of the dreamscape. I hate candied apples – the hard caramel coating makes you feel like you’re chewing on glass and sugar water. “Ok, how about a candy apple?” said.
Caramel apples are no better: the crunchy apple ruins the buttery texture of the caramel. But apples and caramel go together well when both are cooked, so I was wondering if I could make the caramel apple once and for all for kids around the world.
My hopes were high. The results were doubtful. Bakers, I need your help!
I put two Empire apples and two Honeycrisp apples in an oval baking dish, poured in a couple tablespoons of honey, covered the bottom of the dish with water, and then covered the dish with aluminum foil. I roasted the apples at 350 F for 30 minutes, then raised the heat to 375 F and roasted them uncovered for another 10 minutes. You can drizzle them a couple of times with the honey water in the pan; I did. I cooked them this way because I wanted the honey to create a sticky glaze on the apples to help the caramel stick.
Empires were a dumb idea: they never hold their shape when cooked, so the skin split and the meat became spongy. The Honeycrisps were better behaved: they remained intact.
I remembered we had a miso and caramel recipe in the place. I liked the idea of a dark, salty caramel and one that didn’t require a candy thermometer. I stuck thick skewers into the center and rolled the apples in the caramel, tilting the pan on its side so I could dip the apples. I dipped each apple three times and then laid it out on parchment. The baked apple flavor was concentrated and the skin softened, but the caramel coated everything loosely and never set. These apples are probably better enjoyed with a fork and knife than eaten with a stick. So it wasn’t really the success I was looking for.
Batch 1 kept me up at night worrying that people wouldn’t be happy because the candy wasn’t chewy. So I made a batch using a traditional caramel with corn syrup and butter. The caramel coated the apples thickly and beautifully, and they tasted very warm, but in the morning they looked awful:
My next plan is to pour the caramel into a parchment-lined muffin pan and press the baked apples to set, but it may have the same hydration problem. If you have suggestions on how to improve Caramel Apples 2.0, send them my way and I’ll follow up on them in a few newsletters from now on, assuming I’ve gotten over my caramel fear. I’m at (email protected)
This is miso caramel; Doubling it makes enough caramel for four apples.
This is the pan I used to roast the apples:
Have a better week than I’m having!
amanda
