Wikipedia: Candy apple
Candy apples, also known as toffee apples outside of North America, are whole apples covered in a hard toffee or sugar candy coating, with a stick inserted as a handle. These are a common treat at autumn festivals in Western culture in the Northern Hemisphere, such as Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night because these festivals fall in the wake of the annual apple harvest. Although toffee apples and caramel apples may seem similar, they are made using distinctly different processes.
   
History
According to one source, American William W. Kolb invented the red candy apple.
 
Kolb, a veteran Newark candy-maker, produced his first batch of candied apples in 1908. While experimenting in his candy shop with red cinnamon candy for the Christmas trade, he dipped some apples into the mixture and put them in the windows for display. He sold the whole first batch for 5 cents each and later sold thousands yearly. Soon candied apples were being sold along the Jersey Shore, at the circus and in candy shops across the country, according to the Newark News in 1948.
 
,a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q9f7rpc8Rs”>YouTube
Homemade Caramel Apples
Sep 23, 2012
Crouton Crackerjacks
Apples dipped in rich homemade caramel and then rolled in chopped peanuts. You can use whatever you wish to roll these in after they are dipped…chocolate chips, M&M’s, chopped candy bars, etc. You can even drizzle them in chocolate after rolling to make them even more gourmet. Not as hard as one might imagine and no umwrapping of dozens of caramels! 
 
What you’ll need:
8-10 small to medium apples (I used Gala’s)
8-10 skewers, chopsticks or popsicle sticks
1 cup butter (do not use margarine)
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
chopped peanuts or topping of your choice
waxed paper or parchment paper
candy thermometer
 
South Florida Reporter
1950 Kraft Produces The Caramel Apple; In 1960 The Caramel Apple Machine Was Invented
By SouthFloridaReporter.com - Oct 30, 2017
(...)
. Caramel apples were invented in the 1950s. The creator, Dan Walker, was a sales representative working for Kraft Foods. Kraft Foods, who also sold small individually wrapped caramels, continues to print the recipe for caramel apples on the backs of their caramel bags.
. In 1960, Vito Raimondi, with the help of his uncle William Raimondi, invented and patented the first caramel apple machine.