One of my grad school roommates was from New Jersey and she embraced the stereotype, complete with a deep love for hair bands and hairspray. She also frequently insisted that chocolate covered pretzels were a delicacy in New Jersey. No surprise, this became a long standing joke with my other roommates.
It's not clear how it began, but somehow caramel apples became a delicacy in our family and I don't care if it makes people laugh. We grew up with the discs of caramel that had to be peeled off waxed paper, then draped over the apple. We thought they were good until my sister discovered the holy grail of caramel apples at Marceline's Confectionery on Downtown Disney. It's not hard to imagine why they are good - they're absolutely fresh and loaded with yummy toppings. Rocky Mountain makes decent apples, but they don't complete with Marceline's. Recently I was at Costco when I spied these cute, petite, rounded cakes, but as I got closer, I saw they were caramel apples without the sticks. We bought a few and they were okay. The apple was painfully tart and the chocolate to caramel ratio was off, too heavy on the side of sub-par chocolate. Lesson learned, we won't buy them again.Last week a package arrived from Mrs. Prindable's, delivered to the door, much like flowers. Inside the box was another box with a huge gold ribbon. Inside that box was a huge apple covered in caramel and three types of chocolate. And it was gooood.
The kids were so excited, gobbling up their slices. Or so I thought until I looked over at Clover's plate, which held several perfect looking apple slices. She ate the chocolate and caramel off the apple slices, typewriter style, the same way she handles corn on the cob. She groaned when I told her to eat the apple too, but after a bite, she said, "These apples are good!" She was surprised, but the entire delicacy really delivered, including the healthy part of it.Seriously, the entire apple was good. The only disappointment was the next day when there was no more apple to be eaten.
Disclosure: Mrs. Prindable's sent over the caramel apple for free. And for that, I thank them.
