If it's true what they say about eating an apple a day, does it matter if you first dip them in buttery toffee and then sprinkle them with gold dust? That's artisanal candy maker Laura Saynay's prescription with her Toffee Lady Apples, available only during the short season for petite Granny Smith, Gala, Lady apples or Sickle pears.

Saynay grimaces when she stirs up childhood memories of carnival-style caramel apples—those gooey, tasteless softball-size apples that sat in sad fluted paper liners for days, or even longer. She's redefined them. Hers are locally sourced apples, made-to-order. They fit in the palm of your hand so you can really eat them. But first she treats them to a lacquering of her toffee—so perfectly cooked you can taste the butter, the caramelized sugar and the Tahitian vanilla. It becomes a wafer-thin shell encrusting most of the fruit, which she finishes with a dusting of real gold (yes, hers is perfectly safe to eat) and a kiwi-vine stem.

But there's more to Laura Saynay than toffee apples. After twenty years in the restaurant business on both coasts—the last ten in the pastry kitchens of Stars, Boulevard and Clementine—Saynay set up shop with her Tea and Cake Confections. Using only natural flavors, colors and fresh, highest-quality ingredients, Saynay turns out handcrafted velvety French Cognac Truffles ($40/dozen); caramels with Tahitian vanilla bean, hazelnuts, or toasted almonds ($20 for two dozen); pecan, walnut or no-nut fudge ($30 for three pounds); and crispy brittles with peanuts, pistachios or pumpkin seeds. Saynay's trademark lollipops, in fruit and exotic flavors including cardamom, anise and Earl Grey, run $12-$40 per box.

Tea and Cake Confections accepts orders by phone toll-free at 877-853-1222 or online at http://teaandcake.com.