Stressed out apples make great treats

In an attempt to use every bottle we have in the storage room and then some, we tried yet another version of Red-Hot Apples. While we do enjoy the rings, our apples this year were not uniform, actually none of our fruit was uniform. I have a hunch our road construction digging stressed the trees out as much as it stressed me out. With apples that were pretty wonky, this idea of wedges sounded great. Also, no cloves. We've enjoyed the rings with cloves but also maybe less bite would be good as well. I was right - these are wonderful! I bought a few bags of red hots after Christmas a year or two ago in Wisconsin, the whole family thought I was crazy, but you have to plan for these things. The syrup was easy - so easy I forgot it was bubbling away on the stove! Those red hots melted in no time flat. This was the first recipes I've tried where the liquid did not siphon out of the apples. I'm starting to think it has to do with the saturation of the apples, either way - they turned out beautifully and tasted great! The kids and I thought they had some bite from the candy - but plenty of color from the candy and they were a great treat.

Cinnamon Red Hot Apple Wedges
4 cups water
1 1/2 cup red-hot candies
2/3 cup sugar
6 medium tart apples, peeled and quartered

Directions
In a large saucepan, bring the water, candies and sugar to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir until candies and sugar are dissolved.
Reduce heat; carefully add apples. Cook in sugar mixture for 10 minutes on low. Turn off the heat for 10 minutes to let the apples suck up the syrup then just heat them back up to a simmer. Turn off the heat and with a slotted spoon, transfer apples into pint size jars then fill with the sweet liquid. Fill to ½” headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rim, add lid/rings. Process in water bath canner 15 minutes.