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.