Homemade Caramel Apples with kids

One of my kids favorite fall activities is to make caramel apples. I decided to skip the candy this year and used some healthier topping options. I also wanted my four year old to join in on the fun but his food allergies include milk, eggs, wheat, soy, and nuts (except almonds) so it’s a challenge.

What I used:

Multi grain Cheerios

Snyder’s gluten free pretzels

Ocean spray craisins

Enjoy life chocolate chip

Harvested for You Pumpkin seeds

Natures Path flax granola

Kirkland sliced almonds

Trader Joe’s white chocolate chips

Borden Magnolia sweetened condensed milk can

Instead of buying the store bought stuff I like to make our own caramel sauce actually dulce de leche. All you do is put in cans of sweetened condensed milk and cover them with water. Set it on low and let it ‘cook’ overnight or for about 6 - 8 hours.

I think it tastes better but in case you were wondering it doesn’t harden into a shell as good as the store bought stuff. Remove from the water and let cool before opening. Give it a good stir and if it is a little lumpy just keep stirring and it will smooth out as it cools. Transfer to a wide rim bowl to make it easier for dipping the apples.

My kids always have a lot of fun making these. Luckily my allergy kid isn't allergic to almonds and I had him make his first so there was no cross contamination between all the bowls since he could not have the dulce de leche, caramel corn nor the white chocolate chips. They didn't even miss the candy!

I think they turned out pretty good! I used honey crisp and granny smith apples from Trader Joes. I left some whole, some sliced and some quartered. My age range is 11 years old down to 2 years old so this way all my kids had apples they could handle.