Red Hots Cinnamon Apples to eat or to Preserve

Recipe By     :Jan Patterson

Serving Size  : 16    Preparation Time :0:15

Categories    : Desserts                        Fruit

 

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method

--------  ------------  --------------------------------

  4               cups  water

  1 1/2           cups  red hot candies

     2/3           cup  sugar -- adjust to taste

  6              whole  Granny Smith apple -- OR other tart apple, peeled, cored and sliced

 

IF eating that day, freezing or refrigerating to preserve:Simmer all ingredients together in a sauce pan until the sugar and water are dissolved and the apples are tender.

 

IF canning: Bring the first three ingredients to a boil  and then carefully add apples.  Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

 

Turn off the heat and let the apples rest for an additional 10 minutes.

 

Then turn the heat back on just long enough to bring the apples to a simmer.  Then turn the heat back off.

 

Fill pint jars first with apples and then with the sauce to within a 1/2 inch head space.  Poke the handle of a wooden spoon down the inside of the jar to remove air bubbles.  Clena the jar top.

 

Hand tight the lids on the jars.  Then process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

 

 

 

SUGGESTION:  If you find you have excess liquid go ahead and can it separate.  I have made some VERY good dessert topping and syrup with the excess by heating it too a boil and then adding a small amount of cornstarch mixed with water 

 

VARIATIONS: cut the apples in chunks, or rings for a different look. 

 

Description:

  "A holiday favorite when I was growing up.  Now I make and enjoy them year round by canning, freezing and refrigerating them."

Yield:

  "4 pints"

Start to Finish Time:

  "1:00"

                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 56 Calories; trace Fat (0.8% calories from fat); trace Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 3mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

 

Serving Ideas : During the holidays my grandmother would put these in a nice serving dish set in the middle of a round platter.  Then she'd surround the bowl with deep green beautiful homemade watermelon pickles.  The two were a feast for the eye as well as the tastebuds.   Other times you would put them in a beautiful crystal bowl and they would glimmer in the candlelight of the meal.

 

NOTES : I purchase the red hot candies on sale after any major holiday.  I store them in vacuum sealed canning jars in my pantry and they keep for a very long extended period of time.

 

Any apple will work well for this, but I prefer Granny Smith's.  When I had a free standing freezer I would simply cool the apples and then put them in a vacuum sealed bag and lay flat on a cookie sheet to flash freeze.  They kept wonderfully and stacked well in the freezer doing it this way. They will also keep for a few weeks just refrigerating them. 

 

Canning them would make them a special treat in your food storage.

 

I've not tried dehydrating them, but you probably could if you drained them very well and sliced them fairly thin and dried them on a fruit leather sheet.

 

Speaking of fruit leathers, if you pureed the end product with a minimal amount of sauce then would make a truly interesting fruit leather.