Refined Sugar-Free Caramel Apples Recipe

With Halloween being a matter of days away, and Bonfire night around the corner, it gets me thinking about all of the food we have at this time of year. There are plenty of things that are synonymous with this season. Pumpkin pie, Parkin, toffee and caramel apples and plenty of sweet treats. But when you aren’t having refined sugar, what options are there?

You can make nut based pastries for pies, as well as sweetening Parkin with something other than sugar. But what about toffee or caramel apples? I think the latter is a more american, and the former more British. So I have been playing around with making a caramel that isn’t basically, just melted sugar!

Using only two simple and natural ingredients, you can have the caramel as it is. But if you like more flavour, you can add more using things like nut butters or spices.

Ingredients: (to make enough to cover three apples)

• 175g pitted Medjool dates (around 9 dates)
• 2 tbsp raw coconut oil, softened
• 1 tbsp nut butter (optional)
• toppings like melted raw chocolate or chopped nuts (optional)

What to do:

1. Pit the dates if they aren’t already. Then simply put all of the ingredients in a food processor (or strong blender). Mix until a smooth paste has formed.
2. It is a good idea to pop it in the fridge for about 20 minutes to firm up, before you cover any apples.
3. Then cover the apples in the caramel. Roll the apples in chopped nuts or drizzle with raw melted chocolate, if desired.

You can use your hands to ‘mould’ the caramel on the apples. Equally, you could pop it into a piping bag and drizzle on apple slices, if you’d prefer. My top tip for making the caramel ‘stick’ to the apples, is to dip them in boiling water first. It removes the shiny layer off the apples and means that it will stay put much more easily.

What do you think to these? Would they go down well in your house? My kids loved them and found them much easier to eat than toffee apples, as they are soft.