PT and I went apple picking last weekend and for the price of a dinner for two, were allowed to roam through a local orchard in Ipswich, chomping on apples, and occasionally dropping the most perfect red, round orbs into a peck-sized bag.

It was a gorgeous day, bright and crisp, and the orchard was helpfully marked with signs indicating where the various tree varieties – fuji, macoun, macintosh, golden delicious – were located. After a visit with the farm’s miniature horse, Possum, who was delightfully sweet and gentle, and a satisfying afternoon snack of fried whole belly clams and clam chowder, PT and I were headed home with more apples than I knew what to do.

Rewind a few days, and, in my grief, I impulsively promised to post recipes exclusively from Gourmet, before realizing that one of the issues I swore to use had very few recipes, and the ones it did have, largely consisted of exotic ingredients that didn’t jive with my peck of apples and final farm share haul.

That was, until I luckily and serendipitously came across (okay, okay, it was on the front cover), one of Ruth Reichl’s favorite recipes for Red Wine Caramel Apples. This would do just fine.

I planned a Fall-themed dinner of pan-roasted chicken with cranberries, cranberry pecan salad, and red wine caramel apples for dessert. The best part of this recipe is the fun that you can have with your dinner companions, in this case, PT and dear CS, swirling caramel and dipping apples in pools of lovely, sweet goodness.

Enjoy these apples before Fall is ushered out to make room for Winter.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Red Wine Caramel Apples, Serves 6

Adapted from Gourmet

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cooling Time: 30 Minutes

Total Prep Time: 1 Hour

Ingredients:

6 Apples

2 Cups Sugar

½ Cup Water

1 ½ Cups Pinot Noir

6 Tbls. Heavy Cream

Preparation:

Bring the sugar and water to boil in a medium-sized sauce pan over medium-high heat, stirring just until the sugar is dissolved, but be sure to let the pan be as the mixture begins to boil.

Meanwhile, set the wine to boil in another small sauce pan over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, until the volume is reduced by half.

While both sauce pans are boiling, get the apples apparatus ready. Stick popsicle sticks, or, in my case, freaky finger forks into cleaned and dried apples and set aside.

Set waxed or parchment paper over a cookie sheet and set aside.

After the wine has boiled for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to low to keep warm. Tend to the boiling sugar, swirling the pan, and watching for caramelization – it happens quickly, so keep your eye on it. Once it starts to caramelize, watch for the color to go a deep amber. Once that happens, pour your reduced wine into the pan CAREFULLY – it will bubble up, hiss, and generally make a mess of your stove top, but won’t do any real harm.

Stir the cream into the mixture in well, and put a candy thermometer inthe pot. Once the mixture reaches 238°, remove from the heat and let cool until it’s reached 200°.

With your apples on one side and the lined cookie sheet on the other, take each apple and swirl in the warm, liquidy caramel, and set on the lined cookie sheet to harden. Repeat with the rest of the apples, let them cool for 30 minutes, and then pass around to your friends and enjoy!