This is the perfect dip to make for apple season! Pumpkins are pumpkins, but apples reign supreme for me. Caramel apples are one of my favorite things from my childhood. A tart apple covered in gooey, shiny caramel and sprinkled with peanuts? YES, PLEASE. As an adult, I’ve found many ways to sneak apples into everything in the fall. I mean, of course, once you’ve made all the homemade cider, cider braised pot roast, apple pie french toast bake, and you’ve still got apples on hand – a homemade caramel apple dip is a no-brainer! It’s perfect to have around in the fridge to dip your apple slices in for an after school snack, fall gatherings, and it makes for the ideal movie marathon snack as well. Unpopular opinion: peanuts are superior to chocolate toffee bits! I like to use granny smith apples for this dip because the tart apples work beautifully with the sweetness of the caramel dip and the lightly salted peanuts. I know a ton of people top the dip with toffee bits or heath bits. If you’re a sucker for a good caramel apple dipped in peanuts – this is how you’re going to want to make your caramel apple dips from now on! This was a huge hit for us!
Ingredients for caramel apple dip recipe:
Caramels: I like to use soft caramels and melt them down with a little heavy cream. This makes making this dessert so much quicker with a semi-homemade twist! Salted caramel sauce would be delicious for this recipe, and you can use it for my caramel apple cinnamon rolls too! Of course, you could also use a jar of your favorite premade caramel here as well if you’d like!Heavy Cream: to thin out the caramel chews! If you use premade caramel sauce, you can skip this ingredient completely.Cream cheese: I like to soften the cream cheese to room temperature for a couple of hours so that it whips up nicely. Mascarpone: In addition to the cream cheese, I like to add a large dollop of mascarpone. This gives the dip a richer, more luxurious flavor. I like the sweetness, slight acidity, and complexity it brings to the dip! Honestly, it makes the cream cheese layer taste like a no-bake cheesecake, and I’m all about that! However, you can easily substitute the mascarpone with additional cream cheese if you’d like.Vanilla extract: a teaspoon vanilla extract and mascarpone are a heavenly combo! It gives the dip a fresh vanilla scent.Powdered sugar: adds sweetness to the cream cheese mixture. The powdered sugar, combined with vanilla, cream cheese, and mascarpone, makes the cream cheese taste like a cheesecake.Lightly-salted peanuts: I just chop them up on a cutting board, or you can toss them in a food processor to break them down quickly! As I mentioned, feel free to do a 50:50 combo of butter toffee bits and peanuts or all toffee bits instead. You could even use chocolate chips.Granny Smith Apples: Slice up your fresh apples and serve them alongside the dip! You could also use graham crackers or ritz crackers for this!
Instructions for how to make a salted caramel apple dip:
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Maple Honeycrisp Apple FrittersWarm Cinnamon ApplesApple Crumble BarsHomemade Apple CiderHoneycrisp Kale Salad with Parmesan Vinaigrette
Swap the mascarpone: I like to use a little mascarpone to elevate the flavor of this dip. It makes it creamier and a bit richer in my opinion. Feel free to use another 4 ounces of cream cheese if you don’t want to use mascarpone!Swap the peanuts: To make this more of a peanut allergy-friendly dip, feel free to swap the peanuts for toffee bits. I love the combo of lightly salted peanuts with caramel, and it helps curb the sweetness! You could even do a 50:50 mix of the two!Swap the caramel: You can swap out the homemade caramel sauce for jarred caramel sauce; it works beautifully!Swap the apples: Granny smith apples add a tart element and curb the sweetness from the caramel, so I think they work best for this recipe. If you’d like to use a different apple variety, you might want to cut back on the powdered sugar in the cream cheese layer to 1-2 tablespoons.
