Inspiration from the Teacher's Lounge

Everyone likes freebies, right? Well, teachers are no exception. Put a freebie in the teacher's lounge, and it will get snapped up in a heartbeat. Food, books, magazines, even condiments have been placed on the "come and get it" table in almost every teachers' lounge I've seen.

This week's entry came from a freebie in the W. Henderson HS lounge: Southern Living Magazine. Someone graciously left the September 2012 issue on the table around November. I picked it up, enticed by all the caramel apple-themed recipes. With Thanksgiving being spent in Key West, I knew it would not be used during that holiday season, but I did know it would get used. 

Craving fall desserts, and after getting way too many apples at a produce stand, I knew anything pumpkin would be out of the question. I pored over my apple recipes and decided to pull this gem from that magazine: Caramel Apple Coffee Cake. The day I made this, Richard and I had a late afternoon "date" sans kids. It was heavenly. We trekked to Hickory Nut Gap Farm for their fresh pork sausage and some amazing apple cider, then headed to Biltmore Village. To read more about the weekend, check out my family blog.

This is kept refrigerated, but of course is
best when heated. The Farm Store sometimes
serves & sells it hot, by the cup, so you can drink
while you shop. It is my favorite non-coffee
fall (and winter) drink.

As usual, I got started on the cake after dinner. The prep work isn't that long. The most time was spent cracking pecans. The process took even longer once Nolan saw what I was doing and kept sneaking pieces out of my measuring cup.

My little pecan thief.

Once the shelling was done, I got to the actual mixing and baking part. First you soften the apples in a pan, then make streusel and caramel toppings. Then the cake batter. The batter is then poured into a springform pan, layered with apples, caramel and streusel, then baked 35 minutes; covered loosely with foil, then baked another half-hour. It cools in the pan on a rack for half an hour, then after removing the sides, cools another hour, at least. THIS is where all the time-suck happens. Maybe one of these days I'll actually finish a dessert we can eat the same day! Once it cools, another drizzle of caramel is added. This is what it looked like after the last step:

Apparently, the streusel topping is very thirsty, because when I looked at it this morning, all that caramel had seeped into it! No matter, it was still extraordinary. It's as if an apple crisp and a coffee cake had a baby. I've made a peach cobbler coffee cake that is similar, but this is much better. With the leftover caramel sauce, I made this caramel apple dip I found on Pinterest. It's divine. I have a feeling it will get eaten up quickly, even by my pickiest eaters.

We heated up our servings along with mugs of cider, and enjoyed it while Nolan was napping. It adds an extra layer of satisfaction when you can have a delectable dessert without children yelling.

Welcome, Fall!