12 Kickass Caramel & Candy Apple Recipes for Halloween & Autumn

Part of the fun of Fall is dreaming about all of the things we're going to do when the leaves start to change and the weather finally cools down. Things like going to the pumpkin patch, making apple cider, having horror-themed movie marathons, visiting a corn maze, and making caramel apples from scratch.

Of course, the chances we'll be able to follow through with HALF of our fall plans are pretty slim to none, but that won't stop us from our fall fantasizing. In fact, we're taking a proactive step to ensure that we complete one of our fall plans today. We've gathered together a bunch of candy and caramel apple recipes, so that when we have a couple of idle hours on the weekend, we'll be prepared.

We might even have enough time to make 2 or 3 of these awesome recipes. Check out some of these kick ass creative, fall-tastic candy and caramel apple recipes below and let us know some of YOUR Fall plans this year!

Poison Toffee Apples

We can't help but think that this reminds us of the wicked witch from one of our favorite shows, Once Upon a Time. There's just something so deliciously evil about black candy apples, and the recipe for these is so simple. There's only 5 ingredients. Alida from Simply Delicious Food says that in South Africa, Halloween isn't a customary holiday but she still loves making these for the few trick-or-treaters who come by. For someone who hasn't been celebrating Halloween for long, she nailed it with this poison toffee apple recipe.

Get the easy, super sinister recipe here.

Bloody Candy Apples

Credit: 1 Fine Cookie

Apologies to all of the other candy apple recipes, but this has to be our very favorite fall/Halloween candy apple. Jasmin from 1 Fine Cookie was originally inspired by the TV show True Blood, but as the recipe spread on social media, Dexter fans also took a liking to these bloody candy apples.

Jasmin dipped her apples in a white chocolate coating and then dripped some red-colored candy coating over the apples, giving them some major contrast. She also made some "blood"-spattered ribbons to decorate the apples with. It's all about the details when it comes to presentation, y'all. Get the recipe and more awesome pictures here.

Candy Apple Cake Pops

OK, so these are technically not candy apples, they're candy-coated cake pops. That qualifies based on delicious appeal alone, right? Plus, they're great for entertaining. Judy from Season of Sweets randomly came up with the idea for candy-coated cake balls and we're sending her our sincerest thanks.

Judy used plain old Duncan Hines spiced cake mix to make the cake balls and then covered them in a simple sugar syrup with red dye. Super easy, super tasty.

Get the full recipe here.

Candy Apple Cookies

Here's another "pop" recipe, but this time they're cookie pops. These candy apply cookie pops take the mess out of candy apples by leaving out the sticky candy shell. Also, they're small enough that a toothpick is all you need to hold them. These would clearly make some killer hors d'oeuvres.

Cindy from Little Miss Celebration achieves the candy apple flavor by combining melted caramel candies and evaporated milk and coating the butter cookies in the caramel. She tops it off by adding some crushed walnuts. Then, when the cookies are fresh out of the oven, she sticks the toothpicks in them.

Get the delicious details here.

Chocolate Caramel Apple Cats

Credit: Hungry Happenings

In our humble opinion, a candy or caramel apple should be so covered in candy and/or caramel that the apple should barely be visible. That's why we love this chocolate caramel apple recipe from Hungry Happenings. Look at all of that delicious, perfectly sculpted chocolate ganache. Add a sub-layer of caramel and we're sold. Shoot, we probably won't even turn the apples into cats, we might just leave them coated with caramel and chocolate.

But they wouldn't be as adorable if they weren't cats. This recipe involves making decorative pieces out of modeling chocolate, which we didn't know was a "thing" until now. You could probably get creative and come up with a clever way of making the ears, eyes, and nose if you don't have modeling chocolate on hand.

Get the gooey recipe here.

Monster Candy Apples

How adorable are these monster candy apples? Melissa from Polka Dot Chair managed to transform some candy apples into cute Halloween monsters using a little bit of caramel, candy coating, and some Wilton cake accessories. Kudos to her for the creativity. Extra kudos to her for dipping the apples in caramel first, then in a candy coating. These candy apple monsters look so great they shouldn't be eaten.

Get the full recipe here.

Candy Apple Popcorn Balls

If popcorn balls aren't a throwback to your childhood, then maybe you went to the wrong school. Popcorn balls are one of the all-time greatest fall snack invented, and we think Megan from Country Cleaver knows that, and shares our appreciation for the Fall. We know that to be true because she legitimately asked why we don't have a Fall/Halloween version of the Advent calendar. You're right, Megan.

Every holiday (especially fall) needs a countdown calendar with candy and treats included. And these popcorn balls should be one of the treats. They're made from spiced popcorn (the recipe includes butter, cinnamon, and chopped apples) and a delicious red candy coating. Will you ever eat popcorn plain again? Probably not.

Get the full recipe here.

Colorful Candy Apples

Here's a helpful tutorial for making your candy apples any color you want them to be-even hot pink. Rose from Rose Bakes originally ran into a dilemma when one of her clients wanted hot pink and orange candy apples, two colors she'd never seen in the store or in any kit. So she took matters into her own hands.This is an incredibly helpful tutorial for when you want to customize candy apples, for parties or a baby shower.

Get the tips here.

Cinnamon Candied Apple Slices

Don't let the picture deceive you, this recipe for cinnamon candied apple slices can easily be applied to whole apples, as well. Heather from Heather's French Press just didn't want her kids to be covered in a sticky, red mess. Something tells us she might be a big traumatized from her own candy apple messes as a child. We understand completely.

The red candy shell against the exposed apple slices makes for a great picture, doesn't it? It's ideal for younger kids or people with dental issues that may or may not have stemmed from a nasty candy apple experience.

Get more of the recipe here.

Cinnamon Caramel Apple Pumpkins

How adorable are these cinnamon caramel apple pumpkins? Alot of time and effort went into these apple "pumpkins" and it shows. Darla from Bakingdom even made the caramel sauce from scratch. And of course, if that wasn't enough work, she decided to make more candy-dipped caramel apples when she was done with the pumpkin ones.

To make the pumpkin stripes, Darla used some shoestring orange licorice which stuck to the hot caramel sauce. To finish it off, she tied some green string around the stick and tied a pretty bow at the end.

Get all the details here.

Mini Caramel Apples

This is probably one of the simplest, kid-friendly caramel apple recipe on this list. Tiffany from My Litter uses a melon baller to cut out tiny balls from the apple and then coats the mini apples in a caramel sauce. Perfect for toddlers and little hands.

If you're thinking of having a Halloween party or giving some gifts to your kids' classmates, you really can't go wrong with these mini caramel apples. Add some candy bits, nuts, or sprinkles to make them pop.

Get the recipe here.

Cinnamon Sugar Caramel Apples

This cinnamon sugar caramel apple recipe reminds us of a crisp apple pie. Aimee from Like Mother Like Daughter maintains that while it may look like it could taste like apple pie, it doesn't. There are 3 layers to this recipe: caramel, cinnamon sugar, and chocolate...and it looks absolutely divine together on top of an apple.

Plus, you can see how thick the layer of caramel and chocolate is. After she was done making these, she added even MORE chocolate on top, just to give it an extra dose of chocolate. Aimee, do you do corporate events?

Get the recipe here.