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It is hard to tell their size from the above picture, but these apples are tiny and perfect and precious. They look like bright red little gems and you can fit a couple in the palm of your hand. We are having some people over in a couple weeks and I thought it would be neat to make a platter of perfect little caramel apples as sweet autumn treats, but I wanted to test them out first.

I looked around for a couple days for the right apple. Not too big, not too small. I like a good ratio of caramel to apple, so I didn't want the apples too big -- plus with the big apples you end up with caramel on your cheeks, and the tip of your nose ends up sticky. I didn't come across any Lady Apples (the type of small apple most often used for caramel or candied apples), but I spotted a wonderful basket of these little cinnamon-spice apples instead.

Unfortunately, the grocer at the store said he wasn't sure how much longer he would be selling the Cinnamon-Spice variety because apparently people aren't buying them. When you bite into a Cinnamon-Spice they have a delicious sweet white flesh speckled with little pink capillaries of color. There is also a slight hint of spiciness (hence the name), but the apples I had were mostly juicy and sweet, perfect to put in your pocket for a snack.For the SF locals, I bought them at the Farmer's Garden in the Ferry Building, across from Miette on Tuesday.

Making the actual caramel apples was pretty easy, if not perilous - with the boiling sugar and hot cream and all. It only took a few minutes to cook up the caramel and then dunk the apples in the molten-like caramel. The only problem I ran into was that after I dipped the apples into the thick caramel and set them on parchment paper to harden up, ever so slowly, over night, the caramel succumbed to the forces of gravity. I should have put them in the fridge where I think they would have been fine -- but the following morning the pools of caramel oozing off the apples were on the spread.

The other problem might have been that I didn't quite heat the caramel mixture to a high enough heat (although I'm almost sure I hit the requested 245 degrees). I also didn't add chopped nuts, I like my caramel apples nut-free. Regardless, they were delicious, and if I can get the caramel to set just a bit better the next time around, I think i've got a keeper of a recipe on my hands.

Caramel Lady Apples

12 lady apples, washed and stemmed
2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, peeled, and chopped
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Insert a 5-inch dowel or ice pop stick into the top of each apple. Place hazelnuts in a small bowl.

2. Place sugar, corn syrup, cream, and butter in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue cooking until the temperature registers 245 degrees on a candy thermometer, 10 to 12 minutes. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Remove saucepan from heat, and briefly plunge it into ice water to stop the cooking. Dip one apple into the caramel, coat the top and sides using a spoon, and roll the bottom in the nuts. Transfer to a serving platter. Repeat with the remaining apples.

Makes 12.

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