Salted Caramel Apple Chocolates

I was cleaning out my cabinets and found some chocolate molds I completely forgot I had! In an effort to work on my caramel recipes, I thought a caramel apple filling would be a great seasonal flavor.

Gooey, rich caramel fills the inside of these chocolates with tiny bits of apples sauteed in butter, cinnamon and a touch of Hawaiian Red Salt.

Caramel Apple Chocolates

1 tbl earth balance vegan butter
1/2 cup peeled apple cubes, very small dice
1 tsp organic brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of Hawaiian Red or sea salt
3/4 cup organic sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened or vanilla almond milk
2 tbl earth balance vegan butter
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
12 oz-58% chocolate, cut into small chunks

Heat the oil up in a small saute pan and add the apple cubes. Toss with butter and cinnamon. Saute for 5 minutes until tender but not mushy. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Set the apples aside.

In a medium sauce pot, add the sugar and corn syrup and cook until 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Drizzle in the almond milk while stirring at the same time. Add the butter and vanilla, stir to melt and remove from heat. Transfer to a bowl and let cool at room temperature for 4 hours until thick.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between until almost all of the chocolate has melted. Stir by hand to melt the rest.
Pour the chocolate into the molds, tap against the table to burst any air bubbles, then turn upside down to let excess chocolate fall out. Scrape any extra chocolate off the top of the mold for a clean set. Chill for 5 minutes to set faster.
Fill each chocolate with a couple pieces of apple and then fill not quite to the top with caramel.
Pour the remaining chocolate over the tops, scraping across the whole mold tray to get a smooth, flat surface on all the chocolates. Chill again.
When ready to take out, tap the mold against the table a few times and turn the chocolates out.