Fireworks night, bonfire night, Guy Fawkes! Whatever you want to call it, this is the night of bon fires and fireworks all over the UK. The sky will be alight with flashes of colour, stelar light shows and the sonic booms of over sized party poppers.
We always used to have a bonfire in the garden with my Dad lighting rockets in milk bottles and nailing a Catherine wheel to the wall, where it would sputter and flash, maybe go round a few times and putter out.
The bonfire would be accompanied by sausages (bangers) on rolls with tomato sauce and toffee apples made by Mum for afters.
The toffee apples were my favourite part. The crackly hard almost over-sweet toffee giving way to a juicy apple underneith.
I used to hover round the kitchen like a vulture waiting for them to cool down and harden up. Only to be shoo-ed out by Mum and told to wait till the fire was lit and time was right.
Patience has never been my strong suit.
In the interests of Larder Love and my fondness for toffee apples I decided that I would transfer this sticky treat into a spreadable goodie that could be kept for later and trapped in a jar – yes, you got it, I decided to make it into Toffee Apple Jam!
This was really just a case of getting together the components of the traditional toffee apple and then going the wrong way about making it. Oh and I added a wee dash of brandy, like you do!
How to make Toffee Apple Jam;
I used a kilo of Bramly apples (sounds a lot but these guys are big and heavy), the juice of a lemon, half a kilo of sugar and 2 table spoons of brandy.
You peel and core the apples, chop them up and toss them in a bowl with the lemon juice.
Set aside while you get on with the toffee bit.
Stir 250g of the sugar with 4 tablespoons of water in a heavy based pan on a low heat till you get it to melt and go golden.
Now toss in the apples and don’t panic when the caramel all clumps up and hardens, it will calm down and soften again when the heat gets going again!
Add the remaining sugar and stir until it has all dissolved.
Bring to the boil tor 10-15 minutes till apples are completely soft.
Remove from heat and press it all through a sieve with a wooden spoon – be careful as this stuff is HOT!
Return to the pan and boil again for 1 minute and remove from heat before you stir in the brandy.
Ladle into sterilised jars and pop on a lid, leave overnight before tasting to let the flavours really develop.
Serve on toast, scones, crumpets or over ice-cream – yum!
Happy Bonfire Night!
Karon x
- 1 kilo/2¼ lb Bramly apples
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 500g/1lb 2oz sugar
- 2 tbsp brandy
- Peel and core apples and chop, toss in a bowl with lemon juice and set aside.
- Stir 250g (8oz) sugar with 4 tablespoons water in heavy based pan till golden.
- Add apples and remaining sugar and stir on low heat to dissolve.
- Boil 10-15 mins to soften apples and thicken.
- Press through sieve with wooden spoon.
- Return to pan and boil 1 more minute.
- Remove from heat and add brandy.
- Ladle into sterilised jars and pop on the lids. Leave overnight to let flavours develop.
Oh wow, that sounds perfect, I’ll have to give this a go 🙂
you’ll love this Sue, just don’t panic when the sugar all bunches up when you add the apples, keep stirring!
K x
What type of sugar is best to use?
any will do
I found you on Punk Domestics where I also contribute. This recipe sounds great. I like the jars in the pictures you used for the jam. Where did you get them (if I may ask)?
Hi Jannine
This was a recycled jar, think from some sort of Italian contents. I am such a sucker for good jars I’ll buy them just to find something pretty and different for my own preserves.
Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Kx
How long can this be stored? I’m wanting to make it as a gift for Christmas x
Hi Jessica
No problems re keeping for Christmas, it will keep up to 4 months usually.
K x
Mine did not thicken to jam consistency or clarity as your photos show but it did make for an incredibly lush apple sauce. I did not have brandy on hand so omitted; surely this can’t be why I didn’t get jam?
maybe try cooking for longer next time. All fruit is different and mine came together in this time frame, it is all trial and error when cooking, especially with fruit.
K x
Mine also came out cloudy and sauce like. Apples were cooked well and passed through a sieve easily. I also didn’t have brandy – would this make a difference?
Don’t quite know what went wrong for you. I always put in the booze.
K x
Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me how much jam this recipe yields. I Think I may need to double to recipe as I’m making gifts for christmas hampers and this looks just the job!
Many thanks,
Jody
Think I got about 2 medium jars from this recipe.
K x
I made this last fall & will make it again this fall. In the last week, I’ve sent 2 people to this recipe & will continue to do so. It’s one of my favourite recipes to make with apples now! I double or triple the batch & can it! Yummy!
Thanks so much for this lovely comment, I’m thrilled that you like my recipe so much and have been sharing it as well as using it yourself.
Kx
I made this yesterday using rather tart crab apples but as I didn’t have brandy, added some cinnamon and spice to add flavour.
Delighted with the results! It’s set perfectly and is a beautiful spread. No trace of sour!
Thank you so much!!
Hi Janine
Love the sound of crab apples with cinnamon and spice. So glad you liked my recipe.
K x
Hi there
Just found your recipe – do you use jam sugar for this?
You can use normal granulated sugar as lots of pectin already in the apples.
K x
Hi Karen, Can you make this with eaters. Our Cox’s apple tree has produced loads this year and I would like to use them in preserves as well as eating and juicing.
Thanks
Julie
Yes go for it, use any apples you like.
K x
Your photography and presentation for this recipe are JUST… seductive, lol!
Seriously, I could not (and frankly did not want to) resist using my last batch of windfalls to make this today.
Toffee apples have always been an aspirational taste for me – I never liked the actual product as such – there always seemed to be too much plain (and often not very ripe) apple and nowhere near enough toffee for my taste, but I am a sugar hog at heart!
So I’m hoping that this recipe will right some wrongs and produce the taste I have in my mind as “toffee apple: 😉
Hope you like the jam and thanks for nice comments on my photography
Kx
Hope you made the jam and enjoyed it
K x
Does your jam get the crackly bits back since you said it would soften and pass thru the sieve? I’m curious how to get the crackly bits back before I make it. I want to know how it should turn out. Your pic definitely shows it? Thanks so much!!
I’m a bit confused there are no crackly bits in this jam