Fresh Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce great January-blahs buster

Unlike with yesterday’s recipe, from the start I expected to be wowed by this dish; it even exceeded my expectations. But how can anything with apple as its main element be far from spectacular?

This Fresh Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce was just way terrific—easy to make, with lots of chunky, fresh apples. It baked in an 8-inch square pan and cut into nice-sized squares. Atop it went a thick caramel sauce. You could serve the cake either warm or cold as long as the caramel sauce was a warm top layer. Splendid! People normally think fall or Christmas when apples are mentioned, but to me this dessert was a great January-blahs buster.

Interestingly my sauce turned out to look nothing like the sauce in the photo of the recipe. Mine was decadent and creamy; the recipe photo had sauce resembling pancake syrup—clear and much thinner than mine. Yet I checked the recipe carefully and determined I hadn’t missed a step. Either way seemed as though it would be tasty.

Hubby enjoyed a tablespoon of sugar-free whipped topping on top of the caramel sauce on top of the cake. He really got into this dessert! And while it lasted, which for us wasn’t long, Fresh Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce was a terrific end-of-meal treat to anticipate.

Fresh Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups chopped peeled tart apples

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup evaporated milk or half-and-half

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1 egg lightly beaten (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

In a small bowl cream butter and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Gradually add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Stir in apples and pecans. Pour into a greased 8-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center emerges clean. Meanwhile for caramel sauce combine brown sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 3 minutes. Serve cake warm or cold with warm caramel sauce. Makes 9 servings. (Recipe courtesy Taste of Home Thanksgiving Recipe Cards).

Apple-pear cobbler with an oatmeal muffin on top—that's the idea of this great dessert

Baked apples and baked pears—doesn’t that sound as though it would be a divine combination in a cobbler? Then top it with a crust that tastes like a warm oatmeal muffin—how absolutely scrumptious!

That was what I thought when I read the recipe for Caramel Apple-Pear Cobbler with Oatmeal Muffin Crust. I couldn’t wait to get it all whipped up and ready to stick into the oven. The results indeed were heavenly—as good as it gets where fall desserts are concerned.

One of the neat things about this cobbler idea is that its topping, the Oatmeal Muffin Crust, can just as easily be used to make regular oatmeal muffins. If you take the batter and spoon it into greased muffin cups in a muffin pan and alter the cooking time just slightly, some flavorful muffins will appear from the oven. But as a top layer for the combined apples and pears, it was just too good to be believed. Dig down past the oatmeal-muffin layer; you’ll find some tender apples and pears that have been merged to make a terrific filling.

The mixture is great with sugar-free ice cream or sugar-free whipped topping. All the thanks go to www.myrecipes.com, which reprinted the instructions for this wonderful cobbler from the September 2004 issue of Southern Living.

Caramel Apple-Pear Cobbler

3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter

3 large pears, peeled and sliced

Oatmeal Muffin Batter (see below)

Garnish: toasted pecan halves

Combine first three ingredients in a large bowl. Stir to coat apples. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add apple mixture; bring to a boil and cook, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add pears to skillet and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Spoon the hot fruit mixture into a lightly greased 10-inch (8-cup) deep-dish pie plate or shallow 2-quart baking dish. Spoon Oatmeal Muffin Batter evenly over fruit mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Garnish with toasted pecan halves if you desire.

Oatmeal Muffin Batter

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup uncooked regular oats

1/2 cup chopped dates (I subbed raisins)

1/4 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

3/4 cup milk (I used skim)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 large egg, lightly beaten (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

In a large mixing bowl combine flour and next 5 ingredients. Make a well in center of mixture. Stir together milk, melted butter, and lightly beaten egg; add to dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened. (If you want to use the batter for oatmeal muffins, spoon batter evenly into lightly greased muffin cups in a muffin pan. Fill them 2/3 full. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes 10 muffins.)

Love pecan pie? Love apple cobbler? Get them both with this sweet treat

After I had cooked almost everything apple-y in the September 2011 Southern Living issue featuring the fall’s favorite fruit, I saw it in tiny print: find 25 more irresistible apple recipes at southernliving.com/apples.

More apple recipes? Surely no stone was left unturned from this bounty that I had just cooked my way through.

Ha! Was I wrong! Dozens of to-die-for, rich apple recipes awaited me at this amazing website. The first to pique my curiosity was this one for Apple-Pecan Pie Cobbler. I loved that these could be cooked in individual custard cups so that each person could have his or her own individual pecan pie (or is it apple cobbler?)

The recipe also noted that the mixture for the Pecan-Pie topping of the cobbler could be used separately to make Mini Pecan Pie Muffins in miniature muffin cups. But for now I wanted to try this combination.

So I could prepare this for Hubby’s Saturday-morning breakfast, I assembled as many of the ingredients and mixed what I could on Friday night so that on Saturday morning, I basically had only to cook the skillet apples and then layer everything into the greased custard cups. That way he wouldn’t have such a huge wait, which was a tough one under any circumstances after the wonderful aroma of this sweet treat began pouring from the oven.

The recipe didn’t mention anything about topping this with fat-free whipped topping or sugar-free ice cream; wouldn’t hurt, although these little cobblers stood alone without any addition.

Apple-Pecan Pie Cobbler

6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced (about 3 pounds)

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

In a large bowl toss together first 3 ingredients. In a large skillet over medium-high heat melt butter; add apple mixture and corn syrup; stir often. Cook for 10 minutes. Divide hot apple mixture evenly between 6 lightly greased 6-ounce ovenproof ramekins or custard cups. Spoon Pecan Pie Muffin Batter (recipe below) evenly over hot apple mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 6 servings.

Pecan Pie Muffin Batter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking power

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 large eggs, lightly beaten (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl combine first 5 ingredients. Make a well in center of mixture. Stir together butter, eggs, and vanilla; add to dry ingredients; stir just until moistened. (You also can use this batter to make Pecan Pie Muffins. If making muffins spoon batter evenly into lightly greased miniature muffin pans. Fill three-fourths full. Bake at 425 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 24 muffins.)

An apple layer added to traditional Hello Dolly Bars makes a memorable dessert

Who doesn’t love Hello Dolly Bars, those decadent delights with their layers of chocolate and butterscotch morsels, coconut, nuts, and graham-cracker crumbs, with sweetened condensed milk poured over all? And talk about ease of preparation—no batter to mix, little measuring—mainly layering ingredients in a rectangular baking pan, launching the pan into the oven, and then, after it bakes and cools, carving the cookies into bars. Simple and ver-r-r-ry sweet, putting things mildly.

But the September 2011 “apple-licious” issue of Southern Living, with its assortment of apple delights (the subject of several past blogs), went a step further and added chopped apple to one of those cookie layers. The magazine featured Apple Hello Dolly Bars as yet another way to dive into the season’s favorite fruit.

Wish I could say that the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and sweetened condensed milk were all on the health-conscious list. But the addition of the apples certainly added a redeeming element to the mix. It also provided an extra layer of sweetness. I loved the smooth/crunchy combination as the baked fruit melded with the nuts and coconut.

You just can’t imagine the wonderful aroma while everything cooked! It bolted Hubby out of the shower, way in the back of the house, to inquire what was abrew. Unfortunately for him, his regular physical exam is only days away, so he will have to restrain himself from indulging in Apple Hello Dolly Bars until that little necessity is history. But what a wonderful treat to anticipate!

Apple Hello Dolly Bars

2 cups graham-cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels

1/2 (12-ouce) package butterscotch morsels

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

2 cups peeled and finely chopped Granny Smith apples (about 1 pound)

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together graham-cracker crumbs and melted butter; press onto bottom of a lightly greased 13-inch-by-9-inch pan. Layer semisweet chocolate morsels and next 4 ingredients (in order of ingredient list) in prepared pan; drizzle with sweetened condensed milk over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Cut into bars. Makes about 2 dozen.

If this autumnal Apple Brown Betty can’t bring on fall, what can?

Since I prepared the first apple dish (Apple-Butterscotch Brownies featured in Monday’s blog), we’ve twice seen smidgens of rain. No big deluge, to be sure, but enough to cause a little dancing in the streets. Does the grass seem a tiny bit greener? The rain filled some of the dry crevices of our hearts, at least, because it represented hope that fall someday may arrive and along with it more rain!

The dish that (in my mind) heralded the second brief rainfall here was Apple Brown Betty, another of the wonderful apple desserts featured in this month’s Southern Living. I had questioned whether if I went on a bake-a-thon and cooked up every recipe in the magazine’s featured apple section, would a new season hurry on in?

Rain or no, the emergence of this terrific dish from our oven brought some rejoicing around here. Hubby kept asking, “What smells so good?” Nothing like something apple-y to fill every room in the house with a fall-like aroma. Just makes you feel good all over.

This Apple Brown Betty featured 4 cups of soft, fresh breadcrumbs; I used multigrain bread to add to the health factor. Four large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into wedges, layered with a breadcrumb-butter layer and a brown sugar-cinnamon layer, with a cup of no sugar-added apple cider poured over all.

Most people like to top a dessert such as this with ice cream or whipped topping, but honestly, that thought didn’t even cross my mind when I dug into my inaugural dish of this Apple Brown Better. The topping was a little crisp and the insides juicy with the healthy baked fruit. Other than the time required to peel the apples, this dessert made up in no time.

A great addition to the bring-on-fall collection!

Apple Brown Betty

4 cups soft, fresh breadcrumbs

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (or 1/2 cup brown-sugar substitute)

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges

1 cup apple cider

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together breadcrumbs and melted butter. Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon. Place half of apple wedges in a lightly greased 11-inch-by-7-inch baking dish; sprinkle apples with half of brown sugar mixture and half of breadcrumb mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining apples, brown sugar mixture, and then breadcrumb mixture. Pour apple cider over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until dessert is browned and bubbly. Let baked dessert stand 10 minutes before you serve. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Younger generation scores big with this new Apple Dumpling recipe that's making the rounds

Not only did I acquire the wonderful Sante Fe Stew recipe when I went for my marathon sleepover visit with my college roomie, but she also had on hand a new dessert recipe that her daughter had just emailed her. Her daughter is the same age as is my grown daughter; they were in the same college class at our university. I know my roomie is thrilled, just as I am, when the younger generation sends new recipes our way and we see our girls learn to be good cooks. At the time she gave the recipe to me, I was gathering my collection of what would become my Super Bowl snack spread for this past weekend’s game. I knew Apple Dumplings would be perfect on my munching/grazing table for the game.

Actually I haven't made anything this simple (to be so tasty) in a long time. Wrapping the crescent-roll dough around the plump apple slice makes a nice, fat, fluffy little dumpling. The butter/sugar/cinnamon sauce on top cooks down into the bottom of the baking dish so that when you remove the dumpling, it's ensconced in tasty pie filling. Covering the top with the buttery mixture makes the dough bake up golden brown.

Hubby and I enjoyed these for breakfast as well as for Super-Bowl dining. They're super enjoyable, also, with a touch of sugar-free ice cream or fat-free whipped topping. The younger generation scored big with this little keeper!

Apple Dumplings

2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored

2 (10-ounce) cans refrigerated crescent-roll dough

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 (12-fluid ounce) can or bottle lemon-lime carbonated beverages

(such as Sprite or Mountain

Dew)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13-inch-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Cut each apple into eight wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent-roll dough into triangles. Starting at the smallest end roll each apple wedge in crescent-roll dough. Pinch to seal and place with the point-end down in the baking dish. In a small saucepan melt butter stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Then pour the carbonated beverage over the dumplings. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown. Makes eight servings.

OK, fall's officially here now that I've made Sour-Cream Apple Cake Squares

Whatever the calendar says (and yesterday, the calendar truly said it), fall arrives when I've baked my first Sour-Cream Apple Cake Squares of the season.

No fall that I can remember in years ever has arrived in our family without my preparing this fabulous dessert to welcome the autumn. Fresh, crisp apples peeled and chopped fine go into the batter, seasoned with spice, to make this an ideal fall dessert. Company goes nuts over it; so--year after year--do folks around our family dinner.

My friend, Lori Haaland, prepared this dessert one evening when Hubby and I dined with her and her family back in the early 1980s when we all lived in Houston and her husband was on the staff of one of the churches there. I owe Lori a thank-you for many staples in my recipe collection--among them Copper Carrot Pennies (an identical recipe, furnished by my cousin, Yvonne, appears in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden).

The squares can be crowned with sugar-free whipped topping or even ice cream, if you really want to indulge. When this dessert is baking, the kitchen--and the rest of the house--fills with an intoxicating spicy aroma. Makes you ready for all the other fall icons--hot apple cider, pumpkin pie, turkey and dressing--and, oh yes, (if you live in Texas as we do), the end of our most-unfall-like summer temps!

Sour Cream Apple Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups brown sugar (I use brown-sugar substitute)

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine

1 cup chopped pecans

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt (I use salt substitute)

1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg (I use egg substitute)

2 cups chopped apples (I use Golden Delicious or Granny Smith)

Mix first three ingredients until they are crumbly; stir in pecans. Press 2 3/4 cups of this mixture into 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan. To remaining mixture add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping.