Perfect This Time of Year: Salted Caramel Apple ‘Fries’

Have you ever had caramel? Like, really, really good caramel? The kind that you can pick up notes of vanilla and hints of honey in? The kind that smells more flavorful than just sweet? The kind that is so oozy and wonderful and that gets all over your face but you don’t really care?
Yeah. That’s what I’m talking about today. Delicious, delicious caramel. On apples.
I’ve always thought caramel was good. I mean, what’s not to like about it? But I had no idea how good it really could be. I recently got a hunk of Peter’s Butter Caramel (literally, it was a big ol’ hunk in a resealable bag — randomly wonderful) in the mail, and have been enjoying it ever since.

I’ll tear a small chewy piece off for a sweet treat. I’ll heat it up and drizzle it over my favorite banana “ice cream.” And ya’ll know how delicious it is with apples. Apples that are currently in season and freakin’ amazing.

And while I’m sure this recipe is amazing, too, I decided to tweak it a bit to make a quicker (microwave!) version — with salt (inspiration from this fabulous redhead). Because we all know that some kind of happy insanity happens on the tastebuds when sweet and salty collide. Also, I find that whole caramel apples are kinda hard to bite into sometimes. So, I decided to forgo the whole caramel apple thing and just do “fries” instead!

Okay. So those don’t look exactly like fries. They’re more like pieces. But my knife skills need work, and I’m in no need of a trip to the ER, so fry-pieces it is! Then I put just a sprinkle of my favorite sea salt on my apples and tossed.

And then it was caramel time. I pulled off the chunk I thought would be enough for dipping my apple fries in. Adding just a little bit of coconut oil …

I microwaved it until runny, checking it every 10 seconds or so. (Warning: nuke it too long and it’ll burn!) And then poured it out on my plate. See? The caramel is like ketchup and the apples are like fries! But it’s all sweet — yet salty. Oh, the twist!

Dip ’em in and enjoy!

And, guys, seeing these salted caramel apples probably doesn’t seem like it’s that much different from your normal caramel apples, but I swear the sea salt takes it to a new foodie level. Plus, I like how you can easily make this recipe for one or more or heavy caramel dippers or not! And you’re getting a whole serving of fruit in. Everyone wins!
Are you a caramel apple fan? What’s your fave way to eat ’em? —Jenn