This is my favourite half-term holiday. With Halloween on Thursday and most bonfire night festivities taking place at the weekend there is just so much to do and plan for. Surrey Street is the perfect place to get stocked up for loads of fun with the children this week.
A bowl of apples for £1 will be plenty for apple bobbing. Why not buy another bowl and make some toffee apples. They would be great for your own family or to give out to trick or treaters on Halloween night.
Toffee Apples To make 8 you’ll need 8 applies, 400g golden caster sugar (white will do but the colour won’t be as good), 1 tsp vinegar, 4 tbsp golden syrup and 8 wooden skewers (if you can’t find some you could always buy a pack of ice lollies for Iceland, at the bottom of the market, give the children an extra treat and save the sticks).
To make them; 1. Place the apples in a large bowl and cover with boiling water to remove the waxy coating and help the caramel to stick.
2. Dry thoroughly and twist off the stalks.
3. Push the skewer or lolly stick into the stalk end.
4. Place the apples on a sheet of greaseproof paper 5. Tip the sugar in a pan with 100mls water and cook until the sugar dissolves.
6. Stir in the vinegar and syrup.
7. If you have a sugar thermometer, boil until 140c. If not, test the toffee by pouring a little into a bowl of cold water. If it hardens instantly and is brittle when you take it out, it’s ready. If it is still ‘squishy’ continue to boil.
8. When the toffee is ready, carefully dip and twist each apple into the hot toffee, let the excess drip off and place on the greaseproof paper to harden. If the temperature drops and the toffee is a bit soft you will need to heat it up again. 9. Leave the toffee to cool and then enjoy. You can store the apples for up to 2 days in a dry place.
Pumpkins I think toffee apples would be perfect eaten in a darkened room, lit by candles and a jacko-lantern’ carved out of a pumpkin. There are some pretty good deals on pumpkins in the supermarkets but the ones I’ve seen are pretty small and a bit too ‘perfect’ for me. I want my pumpkins to have a bit of character.
Nearly all the stalls on Surrey Street have a good selection of pumpkins so why not have an outing to choose the perfect one for your lantern this year. You’ll find night light candles to light them with on Tom’s general household stall half way up the market. You can’t miss him - he’s the one with the loudest voice on Surrey Street! If you need some inspiration for ideas to carve, have a look on this Pinterest page ( https://www.pinterest.com/carebear63/pumpkin-carving).
If you do make a lantern from a Surrey Street Market pumpkin, please do send me a photo on twitter to @Sarah_E_Milne and I’ll re-tweet it so others can be inspired by your creations. Have a great half-term week and a Happy Halloween.
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