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Why not try some coating before the apple gets dipped in candy? Isnt' there some edible coating technology out there?

What about caramel instead of candy?

If you check out my flickr set, I did try caramel afterwards... not wanting to REALLY admit defeat.
I didn't use lemon juice on those, I just worked quickly, and still patted them dry before dipping... still at the same effect... but at a slower rate.

I had thought about rolling them in cornstarch or something to help create a bit of a barrier first?

Can you find crabapples locally? You'd get the same effect but with skin all round. Plus the super sugary-ness (?) of the coating should counteract the tartness of the apples.

Sadly, I think the minute that you toss the moisture-retaining skin of the apple, you open a never-ending floodgate of juice into your candy.

Waitaminute - don't they dip all kinds of juicy things in chocolate? How does the chocolate keep from melting around creamy, syrupy centers??

I know Mom used parafin in her chocolate, like a lot of department stores did, to keep the chocolate harder. Parafin in my food sounds horrible to me, but what about an ever-so-thin coating of beeswax?

First, awesome! People rarely finish a whole apple---I brought in caramel apples to work and people were cutting off bite size pieces and leaving the rest to brown. Second---this is clearly a moisture problem so you're going to have to do something that will seal off the apples, I think the oven method mentioned above has the best chance of working or some sort of dehydrator but I'm not sure if apples will totally seal off before they are dried out---part of me wants to take a mini blow torch to the surface like for creme brulee---actually maybe you could dip them in sugar and then use the blow torch letting the water in the apple do the rest, I bet you would end up with a hard shell which could be used as is or subsequently dipped. Keep us informed.

You could try lady apples but they are slightly larger than what you've got here. I used them as caramel apples at my wedding.

Unfortunately that candy is so hot that the peeled apple will start cooking and releasing water.

Maybe a quick dip into liquid nitrogen and then into the candy?

What a cute idea! Sadly, I can't think of anything that might make the candy stay on. The candy even started sliding off our (full-size) apples a few days after we made them. I would second the vote for tiny apples -- if you can find the heirloom 'Pomme Grise', they are tiny and crispy and great. You could try something like a light coat of chocolate, but I fear you'd end up with more coating than apple.

Chef Mark Tarbell did the candy apple with mellon baller thing on Iron Chef a few episodes ago, he coated them with the red stuff, caramel and chocolate. Apparently he had to use a "blast freezer" on the apples to get the candy to set and the apples were meant to be eaten immediately. I think maybe the juice from the apples will make anything slide off.

mgn- Thanks for the suggestion of Crabapples... That might be a bit small to get on a decent stick, but a toothpick might work well!

weremonkey- I thought about using a chocolate coating, like an almond bark instead because of the paraffin content... I might have to give that a go next time around.
And when things have gooey centers, usually they coat the mold with chocolate, let it harden, pour in the goo... and then seal it off with tempered chocolate so it doesn't escape!

sally599- Good thought... however free form fire and myself aren't the best companions.

art- we think alot alike, however my husband as banned my use of liquid nitrogen until we have a larger kitchen so there is room to move! I need to do more hunting to find some lady apples, if I could find a good supplier they would work just as well!

leenwebb- more coating than apple isn't a bad thing if the apple is tart enough to hold it's own against the flavors... I'll have to do some searching!

kitties!- I am pretty sure I had this in the back of my brain, and I was pretty sure that they had to of used the blast chiller. I mean they were fine for the first 20 minutes... maybe even 35 or so, it was after that they went south.
I wonder if I froze my apple first... or if it would give me a weird apple texture? (although I have been trying to get the hubby to buy me a blast chiller for Christmas haha... in my dreams)

Can't help with the slippy candy coating problem, but I love the photo of the holey apples!

I saw these on Iron Chef, too, but didn't remember the blast chiller part! As a matter of fact, I have this on my list of snacks to make for Thanksgiving day and didn't plan on trying to make them first ahead of time (dumb, I know). I do hope you figure it out and share here so I can learn from you :-)

Michelle of Montreal- Thanks... I set them down and I knew I had to take a photo because they looked so bizarre! Deep down in my inner photo geek, I wanted to light them somehow like a pumpkin!

Yellowmug- if I figure it out... I will totally share! I didn't think it was going to be such a pain. I can tell you that 4 apples gave me...excuse the phrase... 75 mini balls... just so you have a point of reference if you give it a whirl.
I know it wasn't a sugar issue... and since it did the same thing to the caramel... it's not a temperature issue. I might make another go and freeze the apple first and see if the hard crack will take care of it before it thaws from the heat.

Man! If you do a search for "edible moisture barrier" everyone and his brother is working on it. The first like 10 hits were patents and experiments with whey protein etc. I think your project may be slightly ahead of it's time.

Freezing the apple would not be a good idea in my opinion.

The cells of the apple would freeze like miniature ice cubes and then thaw out just like melted ice causing the apple to be a deflated saturated mess. Essentially, you should have the same problem as the hot candy cooking the apple and causing it to release it's moisture.

Something to keep in mind with this project is that when you take the peel off of the apple you are causing the apple to start decomposing. The peel protects the watery flesh from oxidizing and seals in the moisture. So even if you were able to successfuly coat it with candy, the inside would still be breaking down because you've got a perishable product that is not being held in the proper environment.

There is a clay product that is used by pharmaceutical companies in the manufacturing of certain pills. This may work. But I still don't think these apples should be made more than one day in advance because they will not taste fresh by the second day.

What about candying the apples themselves? I made orangettes for gifts last year and it seems that the candying/drying step (soak or cook in simple syrup, put in a low temp oven for a while) MIGHT help solve the moisture problems, and then you could coat with caramel or anything else you'd like. I wonder if it would be disgustingly sweet, though...

art- thanks for the tip! There is a reason why Martha Stewart has yet to make mini ones and has only used lady apples to make smaller ones! So complicated!

abby.k- it might be a bit sweet, but I'll give it a try... it would also help their taste stay longer... interesting suggestion! thanks!

Ooh, ooh, I had a bit of a brainstorm in the shower this morning. Maybe cover them in chocolate first? Like the gourmet kind I see everywhere? They would still have to be cold I suppose, but maybe if you could the chocolate would set up faster and than the caramel? Maybe I should try that.

And thanks for the info about how many, er, mini balls you got from the apples.

My husband suggested chocolate... or even almond bark so they have some paraffin going for them. If the apples were patted dry.... I have yet to try it as we are moving this week, so if you try it let me know!

What about a thin coating of marzipan or fondant? Do you think the additional flavors would ruin the effect?

Alternatively, what about rolling the apple balls in crushed nuts beforehand (possibly followed by a brief bake)

also, maybe an isomalt caramel would work better?

http://www.starchefs.com/events/studio/techniques/AAdria/index.shtml

jono- In my baking experience, no one actually likes the taste of fondant, and I think marzipan might be a bit heavy of taste for it... but i'll give it a whirl to see if it balances ok in the end.

The Isomalt Caramel sounds like an interesting idea... I think I might give it a go... I wonder where I can wrestle some up at?!

Oh no denying, there are horrible fondants out there, but there are less horrible ones too, and if you were doing the caramel coating it might not be noticeable because of the richness of the caramel. You'd have to roll it pretty thin to accomplish that though, which would be a challenge.

You can get isomalt at http://www.lepicerie.com and probably some other niche food shops.

I made these last year for Halloween and when I did them I made the apple balls so that the skin was still on the bottom half of the ball and then I only dipped the skin part of the apple in the candy and caramel. I used lemon on the peeled half and it worked out great. I also made some dipped in peanut butter. Hope this helps!