I've made caramel apples for years, as holiday gifts, instead of the traditional cookie gifts. They can be made up to a week in advance. I dip the apples in caramel (werthers is my favorite brand). After the caramel sets, i dip the apple in chocolate. Then the fun begins! add toasted nuts (toasting them with a hint of salt makes a huge, wonderful difference), any type of miniature or crushed candy. Finally, i melt white chocolate chips or peanut butter flavored chips and drizzle over the beautiful gem of an apple. Wrap in cellophane and tie with a big ribbon! i've done the same thing with pretzel rods. What a treat!
My daughter was married one week ago. She used apples as a theme throughout the wedding. For favors, i sewed small, narrow burlap drawstring bags - just big enough to hold a popsicle stick and 5 or 6 soft werthers carmels. I added gift tags with the bride and groom's names, a verse from a favorite song (a blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyed girl) and "carmel apple kit". Since hers was a shabby, chic country theme, the burlap bags, with an apple and a leaf at each place setting, made cute and clever favors as well as complementing the table decor.
An idea for valentine's day treats is to use the large or small traditional-shaped pretzels, which have somewhat of a heart shape going on. Dip half of each pretzel into a favorite chocolate flavor (mine is always dark chocolate). Again, use small or crushed candies or other chocolate flavors drizzled on. Or, carmel on one side, chocolate on the other or one type of chocolate on one side and a different type of chocolate on the other, or...well, the possibilities are endless. Even the broken pretzels at the bottom of the bag don't seem quite so forlorn when covered in chocolate and mixed with popped popcorn.
And the mention of popcorn leads me in a whole other direction! i love popped popcorn, salty and slightly buttery (the real thing, please) with raisinets mixed in the bowl. The crispy, salty popcorn mixed with the sweet, soft, chocolaty raisins is a taste treat that satisfies the bite as well as the taste buds.
A cute gift could be a popcorn bowl with popcorn, candy, and a recipe, along with, of course, a pre-made sample of the yummy treat.
