Strawberry Ghosts
20 min
Three ingredients, ready in 20 minutes, and the kids go absolutely wild for them. Perfect Halloween treat or a fun cake decoration.
dessertfor kidsquick
Perfect for Halloween — glossy black candy apples that look like they came straight from a witch's kitchen. Dead simple once you get the sugar syrup right.
Instructions
- 1
Rinse the apples and dry them really well. Pull out the stems and push a stick firmly into the top of each apple.
- 2
Combine the sugar, water, glucose, and black food colouring in a small saucepan. Heat over low until the sugar dissolves completely, then crank up the heat so the syrup boils hard. You're waiting for it to thicken up and show big, slow bubbles. To test if it's ready, drop a little syrup into a cup of cold water — if it goes stiff and you can shape it, you're good.
- 3
Spread a little oil on a sheet of baking paper.
- 4
Dip each apple into the hot syrup, let the excess drip off, then set them on the baking paper. Leave them until the coating has set completely. Wrap in cellophane if you're giving them away or bringing them to a Halloween party.
Per average serving
0
Calories
kcal
0
Protein
g
0
Carbs
g
0
Fat
g
0g
Fiber
0g
Sugar
0mg
Sodium
Family Portions
2portions
Adults
2
Children
No children added
Ingredients
Per average serving
0
Calories
kcal
0
Protein
g
0
Carbs
g
0
Fat
g
0g
Fiber
0g
Sugar
0mg
Sodium
Tips from the kitchen
- Dry the apples obsessively. Any moisture left on the skin will make the syrup slide right off instead of sticking. Pat them dry, then leave them out for 10 minutes before you start.
- The cold water test is your best friend here. Drop a small amount of syrup into a cup of cold water. If it hardens immediately and snaps when you bend it, the syrup is at hard crack stage and ready to go. If it's still bendy or soft, keep boiling.
- Work fast once the syrup is ready. It starts thickening as it cools, and if you wait too long between apples the coating gets lumpy and uneven. Have your oiled baking paper laid out before you even start heating the sugar.
- The glucose syrup is doing important work. It stops the sugar from crystallizing and keeps the coating glossy and smooth. Don't skip it or swap it for honey, the result won't be the same.
- Black food colouring varies a lot by brand. Gel or paste colours give you a deeper, more opaque black than liquid drops. If your syrup looks more dark grey than black, add a tiny bit more colouring before the syrup gets too hot to stir safely.
Ways to vary it
- You can swap the green apples for small red ones if that's what you have. Green apples tend to be firmer and a bit more tart, which works well against the sweet coating, but red apples work fine too.
- For a Halloween twist, press a few edible silver or white sugar pearls onto the coating before it sets. You have maybe 10 seconds per apple to do this, so have them ready in a small bowl beforehand.
- The black colouring can be swapped for deep purple or blood red if you want a different look for a party spread. Same method, just a different colour gel.
Storage & leftovers
These are best eaten the same day. The coating starts absorbing moisture from the air after a few hours and gets sticky rather than crisp. If you need to make them ahead, keep them somewhere cool and dry, not the fridge, as the condensation will ruin the coating.
What to serve with it
Serve them on a tray lined with black paper or fake cobwebs for a Halloween table. A bowl of dry ice nearby doesn't hurt either.
UC
By Untrained ChefPublished 5 July 2026
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