Caramel Apples All Grown Up

After I hit the teenage years and Halloween rolled around, I was always sad that I had never eaten a caramel apple as a child.

I felt like I had missed something, like I had been left out of the cool club.

I'm not sure why I was never around caramel apples...perhaps my parents wanted me to keep all of my teeth intact. And maybe they didn't want me jumping off the ceilings from the sugar rush.

Anyway, I finally got my chance this year to try a caramel apple.

But, from what I can tell from seeing people eat caramel apples, this dessert was much easier and enjoyable to eat.

And it was made even sweeter, or saltier, by the addition of a salted caramel sauce.

I found this recipe for Apple Mosaic Tart with Salted Caramel on the lovely Smitten Kitchen food blog. (Click the link for the recipe, beautiful photography and great instructions.)

This tart was more delicious than any caramel apple I could have probably ever tried to sink my teeth into.

The puff pastry was crisp, the Arkansas black apples were sweet and flavorful and the salted caramel an absolute gooey treat.

And I only had to re-make the caramel sauce once. (Tip: If you don't work fast making caramel you will end up with a giant, stone-hard caramel candy.)

Happy Halloween!

Here's to wishes for caramel apples growing up and becoming something so much more.

Visit the Smitten Kitchen food blog for the detailed and delicious recipe!