Right now I am supposed to be either loading the dishwasher, cheering on the Razorbacks, or baking cookies to take to a friend’s house later. But I’m not. I’m sharing this yummy recipe with you! (Go, Hogs!)

This recipe was in the October 2010 issue of Southern Living. (Yes, that is the actual page out of the magazine. You can see where I folded down the corner of the page and where I ripped it out of the magazine.) Check out the recipe here or click on the picture below. This was my first attempt at this recipe. It was ooooo, la, la!

Fresh Apple Cake

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples (about 4 large), peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick wedges

•Preheat over to 350˚.

•Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 5-7 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.

•Stir together butter and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl until blended.

•Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, stirring until blended.

Next come the apples. Apples have been rather expensive lately-$1.69 a pound! I don’t remember exactly how much apples were when I bought them, but I am telling you I DID NOT pay $1.69 a pound!

They are happy looking though, aren’t they. I love my little basket with the ceramic handles. I think my friend Tammy Shumake gave that to me. (insert a warm, fuzzy smile here)

Back in my days as a Pampered Chef consultant, the Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer was one of the stars of the catalog. Can you tell I’ve had mine a while? I’m missing one of the little feet off of the stand.

It really is a cool tool. It was always a crowd- pleaser at parties. It does just what the name says. It peels, cores, and slices all at the same time! However, this tool is not required for this recipe. Duh, like you really thought it was!

After you have done all your peeling and such, cut the apples into smaller pieces.

•Stir in the apples and 1 cup of the pecans. (Batter will be very thick, similar to a cookie dough.)

•Spread batter into a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan.

•Bake at 350˚ for 45 minutes or do that toothpick thing.

•Cool completely on a wire rack. If you don’t cool completely, your frosting will be all melty and you don’t want that!

Now, here comes the really cool part. There were three different frosting recipes to choose from for this recipe—

Browned-Butter, Dark Chocolate, or Cream Cheese! click the picture-the recipe link in the second paragraph will take you to all three frosting recipes, too!

I chose the Browned-Butter Frosting. Doesn’t it just sound yummy?!

I had never “browned” butter for anything—at least not intentionally.

Browned-Butter Frosting

1 cup butter

1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

•Cook butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, 6 to 8 minutes or until butter begins to turn golden brown. Remove pan from heat immediately, and pour butter into a small bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour or until butter is cool and begins to solidify.

With my lack of butter-browning experience, I was not very confident about my butter. Was my golden brown the golden brown it was supposed to be?

Here is what my butter looked like after a stint in the fridge. What am I supposed to do with all that junk in the bottom of the bowl?!

I think maybe I needed to let my melted butter solidify a little longer, then scoop it out and leave the crumbs behind. Nobody said that in the recipe!

• Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk, beginning and ending with powdered sugar. Beat mixture at low speed until well blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

I’m really thinkin’ that I needed a little more milk in my frosting. It was VERY YUMMY, but it was kinda hard to spread. A few more pecans wouldn’t have hurt my feelings either.

By the time I finished writing this post, the dishes got loaded, the Hogs won, and the cookies got baked and taken to the friend’s house. I’m sure you feel better knowing that. haha

Critics’ Corner

Chip: It was good.

(This short response is a personal protest! I accused him of “taking over my blog” because he wrote a long comment for the Apple Slaw.  Therefore, he got all sassy and wrote this short comment. I even asked him at press time if he wanted to add anything.  A curt “NO!” was all I got.)

Megan: This dessert has captured the essence of fall. It was a superb masterpiece.

Katie: It felt like it was fall. All I needed was a cup of apple cider! I savored every bite.