Toffee Apples / Honey Toffee Pears

This makes enough honey toffee to cover 6 smallish apples

1/4 cup water
1 cup honey
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbls. butter

First prepare your apples and pears by removing the wax. Dip them in steaming hot water for about 30 seconds each, then rub with a rough cloth until the skin is smooth and not tacky. It may change the color of the skin, but the toffee will stick better. Remove the stems, and push a stick/large skewer into the top down to the center (or plastic forks, in my case). Place out a piece of foil and smear butter on it. Get a deep bowl of cold water ready.

Use a medium saucepan--larger than you think you need, because it foams up a lot when it boils. Cook the water, honey, vinegar, and butter over high heat. Let it boil until it reaches about 280 F. Honey cooks faster than cane sugar so be really careful; this is as hot as it gets before burning. Remove from heat and dip the apples/pears immediately and quickly once it reaches this temperature. Tilt the pan to make a pool, then stick in one apple at a time, twirling it around to cover with toffee. Then quickly plunge the apple into the cold water, then set down to harden on the buttered foil.

Plum Wine

*Not actually wine.

1 pound of plums, pitted
1 Tbls. honey
1 1/2 to 2 cups water

Cook the plums and honey over medium heat, stirring, until the plums are dark, the honey is melted, and the plums have only started to get mushy.

Put the plums in a blender. Use 1/2 cup water to deglaze the pan and add that to the blender. Blend until liquefied. Strain the liquid into a bowl or pitcher through a cloth bag, You have to really squeeze out as much juice as possible--it will be thick--and remaining in the bag will basically be plum mush.

Dilute the juice with about 1 1/2 cups water. At this point it is still somewhat thick, but it has a strong, sweet flavor. Adding more water to change the consistency, even just a little like 1/2 cup, will lessen the flavor, more than I like, but you can do it to taste.

*First time I made this I added a tiny bit of vinegar, like 1-2 tsp., to try to give it a winey, fermented taste. But I don't know what wine actually tastes like, and I really disliked the flavor the vinegar created,so I've left it out here.