Apple Chocolate Chip Cake

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal!  Sadly, this is also also the final SRC reveal for Group A. The Secret Recipe Club is coming to an end.  Started back in April 2011, SRC and has had a wonderful five and a half year run and connected hundreds of bloggers throughout the world with our love of food and support of our fellow bloggers. My first SRC post was in February 2013, and I've loved all the new bloggers I've met and recipes I've tried. I know we're all going to miss it.

My final secret blog assignment is Mother Would Know with the tag-line Home Cooking Beats Take-Out - which I whole-heartedly agree with.  Written by Laura, it's a great blog full of mouth-watering recipes and helpful kitchen tips.  While Laura has no 'real' cooking credentials, she began cooking in college, and she's got plenty of experience in the kitchen. She's always willing to offer help and advice - the kind of cooking questions you would love to ask your mother, but these answers come from a guaranteed 'no nagging zone' where you won't be asked about your love life or your job prospects.  So, like Laura says -'whether you already cook reasonably well, have a few simple meals you can prepare or just have the feeling that you had better learn how to cook before your take-out bill ruins your credit rating' - Mother Would Know is the place for you.  (for the record, my daughter uses my blog as her cookbook, and both my kids call me with their cooking questions, but not everyone can do that, so it's great that Laura offers such help)

I browsed through Laura's blog and find several recipes I definitely want to try. Sweet & Sour Brisket, Rhubarb, Apple, Pear Crisp, and Java Chip Ice Cream were just a few of them.

I wish more of the chocolate chips showed in this piece, but believe me,
they were there.  This cake has long since been devoured!

When I saw this apple cake recipe I knew I had to try it - just a touch of sweetness, studded with apple chunks and chocolate - why have I never thought to use chocolate chips in apple cake?  I also really want to try this Bundt Pan Apple Cake Laura mentions in the post, but first, the Apple Chocolate Chip Cake.

Apple Chocolate Chip Cake
from Mother Would Know

Ingredients:

• 4 cups peeled, chopped apples
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1-1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cut the apples and mix them with the sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl; let them stand for at least 15 minutes, giving the apple chunks time to absorb the sugar.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 13×9-inch baking pan and set it aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix (or whisk) together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. After the 15 minute 'rest' for the apple/sugar mixture, lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl and add the oil and eggs to the apples. (I used the glass measuring cup I measured my apples in to beat the eggs - using the whisk I mixed my flour with - and to measure the oil)
5. Add the dry ingredients to the apple, sugar, oil and egg mixture in 3 additions, mixing thoroughly after each addition. The batter will be very stiff. 
6. Fold in the chocolate chips and then spoon the batter into the greased baking pan. Even it out with the spatula or the back of the spoon.
7. Bake approximately 40-45 minutes, until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

The only thing I changed about this recipe was to cut down the sugar from 1-1/2 cups to 1 cup, and to mix the cinnamon in with the apples and sugar instead of whisking it with the flour.  That last part probably didn't make a huge difference, but I think cutting the sugar down worked out really well because this cake was still plenty sweet.

My husband and I just had to try it the same day I made it.  It smelled so good!  And it was really good that first evening, but this cake gets even better after sitting overnight.  It's dense and moist, and absolutely delicious.  I took it to church to share on Sabbath, and we barely made it home with another piece for each of us.  Everyone seemed to really like it.  I will definitely be making this one again.  And again.

An InLinkz Link-up

Free Apples!

This isn't exactly how it happened, but I have been using a lot of apples lately, and they have come off my neighbors' tree, so it made me laugh.

Our neighbors have an apple tree, but they don't want to bother with the apples, so they just let them fall.  The local wildlife really appreciates it.  They (the neighbors, not the wildlife) say we can have any apples we want.  I picked a few, but most of them are out of my reach.  Our neighbor has a handy apple picker he's let me use in the past, but this year he never got it out of the shed, and I never caught him outside or thought about it when I saw him, so I didn't have it to use.  However, in the past few weeks we've had some windy weather that knocked several of those apples onto the ground, so I went over and picked a bunch of them up while they were fairly easy to tell from the ones that had been on the ground for a while and while they were still in pretty good shape.

I've been making apple desserts and applesauce and drying lots of apples, too.  If you've got any other good ideas for apples, please let me know, because I still have quite a few apples left.

Apple Dumplings

My mom used to make these, but I hadn't thought of them in ages, until someone recently posted a recipe for Apple Dumplings.  Their recipe wasn't quite the same thing, but it reminded me, so I asked mom to share the recipe.  First she had to find it, because it doesn't sound like she'd made them in a while.

Once I got the recipe, it took me a while to actually make it, but I finally made some of these last week.   Yep, they're just as good as I remember.  Tender apples rolled in crust and swimming in cinnamon sugar syrup.  What's not to love?

Apple Dumplings 

Ingredients:

• 8 to 10 apples, sliced (about 8 cups)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 sticks butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• for syrup:
  * 1-1/2 cups sugar
  * 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  * 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  * 1/2 stick butter
  * 2-1/2 cups boiling water

Directions:

1. Mix sliced apples with sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2. For dough, mix as for pie crust - combine flour, baking powder, and salt in food processor; cut butter into smaller chunks and add to food processor; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal; add milk and pulse just until dough clumps together.  Do not over-mix. (can also be mixed by hand, but the food processor makes it so much easier)
3. On floured counter, divide dough into two pieces and roll each piece into a rectangle the thickness of a pie crust. Spread apples on dough and roll up, starting from the wide end.  Slice each roll into 10 slices and place in 13x9" pan.
4. Pour syrup over top and bake 15 minutes @375° F, then reduce heat to 350° F and bake an additional 45-55 minutes, until nicely browned. 

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Optionally for the syrup - there will most likely be liquid left in the bottom of your apple bowl, so use that.  It already has sugar in it, so you can reduce the sugar to 1 cup and also reduce your boiling water so the total liquid equals 2-1/2 cups.

While this is really good just the way it is, I am thinking of adding some lemon juice and lemon zest to the syrup next time I make it.  Not a lot, just enough to add a little touch of sharpness or zing.

Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream and some of the syrup drizzled on top.  Yum!

I'm pretty sure I need to make this more often!

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Crock Pot Applesauce

This applesauce is so much better than anything you can buy in the store, and it's really simple to make.  Definitely a win-win.

Crock Pot Applesauce
adapted from a recipe on food.com

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs. tart apples (about 12 cups), cored, peeled, and sliced
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup apple juice or water
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix apples with cinnamon and sugar in 5-quart crock pot.
2. Pour juice or water, lemon juice, and vanilla over apples. Cook on low for 6-8 hours (or overnight) or high for 3-4 hours.  
3. Optional: stir occasionally (if cooking on high), and crack the lid slightly to allow some of the liquid to cook off in the last hour.

I incorporated a few of the suggestions some of the reviewers mentioned - using apple juice instead of the water, and adding some vanilla.  I thought it turned out really good.  Another reviewer suggested adding more cinnamon, but I stuck with the original 1/2 tsp. because I used another recipe for crock pot applesauce several years ago, and it was really cinnamony.  I figured I'd rather have the flavor of the apples shine through.

The recipe calls for about 12 cups of sliced apples.  I ended up adding another cup or two because my crock pot was so close to being full I figured I might as well fill it the rest of the way. 

I cooked mine on high, and stirred it occasionally, about once every hour.  I also cooked it probably 4 hours and then let it cook another hour with the lid slightly cracked to let some of the liquid cook off.  Cooking times can vary depending on the type of apples you use.  I'm not sure what kind of apples I used because I got them off my neighbors' tree.  All I know is that they're fairly tart and they hold together pretty well when cooked.  That's great for apple pie, but it does take a bit more cooking (and stirring) for applesauce.  The good part about cooking the apples in the crock pot is that it doesn't really matter.  You can cook them as long as you want, and you don't need to keep a close eye on the pot.

We're really enjoying this.  It's great when it's fresh and warm straight out of the crock pot, and it's good cold, too.  Definitely give it a try.

10 Grain Muffins with Apples & Cinnamon

I've been using either a 7 Grain or a 10 Grain cereal in my Whole Grain Sourdough bread for ages now.  That's pretty much why I've started calling it whole grain instead of whole wheat - never mind that the recipe still says whole wheat.  On the Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Cereal package there's a recipe for muffins.  For some reason I've never made those muffins, but I was reminded of the recipe when I bought a new package this week.  Usually I keep my cereal in a peanut butter jar, so I don't see the recipe unless I happen to buy a new package, and it usually lasts me quite a while because I use about 2 T each time I make bread.

This time I decided to make the muffins, but of course I changed them up a bit.  I've got lots of apples right now, so I decided to add some diced apples.  And some cinnamon.

10 Grain Muffins w/ Apples & Cinnamon
adapted from Bob's Red Mill

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 cup 10-grain cereal
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chopped apples
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Combine milk and cereal; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Cream sugar and butter together.  Add egg and mix well. Stir in chopped apples, then mix in milk and cereal mixture.
4. Combine dry ingredients and stir in; just until mixed.
5. Pour into greased muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean and muffins are browned to your liking.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

I am really enjoying these muffins, especially with a little butter and a drizzle of honey.  I think my favorite apple muffins are still these Oatmeal Apple Muffins (seriously, try those; they are awesome), but I am enjoying these for a change.  They're nice and moist, and the 10 Grain Cereal adds a nice texture and a slight chewiness.  I am thinking that I'll at least double the cinnamon next time, because I can't really taste it in these.  For now sprinkling a little cinnamon on top of the honey really does the trick.  So good!  

I also think either all whole wheat flour or at least half would be good.  I just used the unbleached white flour the recipe called for because I figured all the grains in the cereal would be enough, but I'm a sucker for whole wheat flour in my muffins, so I'm trying that next time.

Now I'm going to check out all the other recipes on the Bob's Red Mill site and see what else I've been missing out on.

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Cinnamon Apple Sourdough Coffee Cake

I've been making this Cinnamon Swirl Bake for a while now, and it's really good, but recently I've started adding apples to the cinnamon swirl part, and it's even better.  I may never make it without apples again!

Cinnamon Apple Sourdough Coffee Cake

Batter

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1 cup lukewarm water (or milk)
• 1 cup unbleached flour

Mix together, cover, and allow to sit several hours or overnight, until bubbly.  Then add:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted (use the same saucepan you'll use for the apple mixture)
• 2 cups flour

Mix in the sugar, salt, eggs, and butter, then add the flour a cup at a time. Once mixed, cover the batter and allow to sit while you prepare the apple mixture. While the apple mixture cools, spread batter into greased 13x9" pan.  It will be thick. 

Apple Cinnamon Mixture

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 cups peeled and diced apples (4 apples)

1. In saucepan, melt butter with brown sugar and cinnamon; add apples and cook over medium heat until apples are starting to soften. Remove from heat.  When apple mixture has cooled, spread evenly over batter and swirl it into and through the batter with a spatula. 
2. Cover and let sit for half an hour to an hour, then refrigerate overnight..  When ready to bake, remove pan from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for a half hour or so.  Then place in a COLD oven; set temperature to 350°F and bake 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned and firm in center.
3. Cool 10 minutes. Combine icing ingredients and drizzle over warm cake.

Icing

• 1 tablespoon butter, melted  (Place bowl w/ butter in already hot oven)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

This is a really moist cake with pockets of cinnamon caramel apple goodness spread throughout.  So good!

Apple Bread with Pecans and Dried Cranberries

I've been without an oven for a couple weeks.  The oven just wouldn't heat up - one day it worked, and the next it didn't.  I thought the bake element had gone out (like I would really know why my oven won't heat up), but it was more serious. The oven needed a new control board, and then it took a while to get it fixed because they had to order the new part, and then the guy who came to put it in couldn't get the oven out of the wall.  And it was the wrong part.  So, they re-ordered the part, and two guys came to put it in yesterday. It took a bit, but they finally figured how to slide the oven out of the wall/cabinet enough to put the part in.  And now my oven works!

Of course, I had to test it, so I made this apple bread.  Yep, the oven works again!!!!!!

Apple Bread
from The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups chopped apples
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar together; add eggs.  Mix well and add apples and vanilla.
2. Mix dry ingredients and stir in.
3. Stir in pecans and dried cranberries
4. Pour batter into a well-greased loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Turn pan on side to cool on wire rack.

The original recipe did not call for whole wheat flour, so you can make this with all white flour- but why would you want to?  The whole wheat just gives it some extra substance and flavor.   I also used pecans instead of the walnuts called for and added the dried cranberries at the last, just because.  They are so good in this!  Oh, and I reduced the sugar from 1 cup down to 3/4 cup with part of it being brown sugar, for the flavor.

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Apple Crunch

Our neighbors have a couple of apple trees, and they are loaded with apples.  They said we could have as many apples as we want because they really don't do anything with them.  So today I walked over and picked a few of them.  Then I went looking in my favorite cookbook - The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals - and found this recipe. I've been using this cookbook for years, but I hadn't tried this recipe yet.

Why?  It's really good and quite easy to make, too.  I guess there are just so many good recipes that it's going to take a bit longer to try them all.  Now that I've tried this one, though - I will be making it again.

Apple Crunch
from The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals

Ingredients:

• 8-10 apples
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• cinnamon
• butter
• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cup (or less) white sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Peel and slice apples.  Arrange in 9x13" baking pan.  Add 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup white sugar to the apples and mix with fork.  Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and dot with butter.
2. Mix together flour, 2/3 cup white sugar, baking powder, and salt.   Add egg and mix with fork until crumbly.  Pour over apples, spreading evenly and then shaking pan slightly so mixture settles down through apples.
3. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.
4. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

I sprinkled a lot of cinnamon on my apples, but I think it could have used even more.  I really don't think there is such a thing as too much cinnamon with apples.  The first time I made this Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby, I thought I'd used too much cinnamon - that is, until I tasted it, and it was perfect.  So, use lots of cinnamon!

Ready to bake

I used not quite 2/3 cup sugar in the topping, but for me this was plenty sweet, so I think next time I will cut it down a bit more.  Other than that, it's pretty perfect.  The top bakes up all crunchy, and you get bits of caramelly goodness around the edges where the apples and sugar and butter all bake.  So good!

Just needs vanilla ice cream!

I think I need to go pick some more of those apples...

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Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal! My blog assignment this month was Spinach Tiger where Angela posts a wide variety of beautiful delicious food.  It was, once again, a challenge to decide which recipe to try.

A couple recipes that I thought about trying were this Baked Spaghetti and Broccoli Frittata and this Roast Chicken with Lemons - and I'm planning to make both of them soon - but in the end I decided on this Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby.

Cook the apples, sugar & cinnamon

I've made Dutch Baby pancakes before, but I never baked the apples right in the pancake.  I don't know why, because it makes complete sense - why use two skillets - one to bake the pancake, and one to cook the apples - when you can use one?

Pour the batter on top

The first time I made this, I followed Angela's recipe - using 4 eggs, 1 cup flour, and 1 cup milk.  It was good, even though I cooked the apples and sugar a bit too much before I put the pancake in the oven so it was almost burnt around the edges.  We drizzled it with a bit of maple syrup, and it was yummy.

The second time I made it - yes, I had to make it again - I used only 3 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup milk.  And I made sure to only cook the apples for about 5 minutes like the recipe says.  I really liked the apple/pancake balance better this time, and I didn't even bother with the syrup.  It really didn't need it; the cinnamony, sugary goodness of the apples came through wonderfully.

Cinnamon Apple Dutch Baby
recipe from Spinach Tiger

Ingredients

• 2 large apples (I used Fuji)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Peel, core and thinly slice apples.  Preheat oven to 450°.  
2. Melt butter in 10 inch frying pan (that can be transferred into oven). Cast iron is optimal. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Once melted, add in apples and cook until apples are softened, about five minutes. Place pan in oven while making batter.
3. Mix eggs with flour until smooth. Add in milk and vanilla.
4. Pour batter over apple mixture.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Cut into wedges

 Note: If you don’t have a frying pan that will go in oven, fry apples on top of stove and pour into a round cake pan, add batter and bake.

I will definitely be making this again!

Rhubarb Apple Crisp

It's Spring, which means Rhubarb!  If you're lucky enough to know somebody who has some - and even luckier to have someone willing to go cut it for you.  Oh, I would definitely go cut my own rhubarb because I love it, but my friend Peggy lives closer to our friend Alice than I do, so she gets me some when she gets hers.  I use it in muffins, rhubarb bread, this Rhubarb Pudding Cake that I adore, and pretty much anything else I can think of.  And I freeze lots of it so I can have rhubarb throughout the year.

Today I was thinking Rhubarb Apple Crisp, so I went looking for recipes - as if I don't already have plenty of my own recipes - like that pudding cake that I'm now wishing I'd remembered and made.  But anyway, I found this one for Apple-Rhubarb Crisp that looked pretty good, so I started there.  But I wanted a different topping, because my friend Peggy, who cuts the rhubarb, doesn't eat wheat, and I wanted to avoid using flour.  That's when I found the Apple Cranberry Crisp recipe in my favorite cookbook ever - The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals - and I had a note right there in the cookbook that the recipe is also good with rhubarb and apples, as well as a modified topping recipe - without flour.  So I used the basic idea of the recipe I'd looked up - because I liked the idea of the juice mixed in with the fruit - with the topping I had written in the cookbook.

Rhubarb Apple Crisp
adapted from About.com Southern Food and The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chopped rhubarb (fresh or frozen)
• 3 medium apples, cored and diced
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 T. pineapple orange juice (or orange juice)
• 6 T. butter, melted
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup whole oats
• 1/3 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

ready to bake

Directions:

1. Mix rhubarb, apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and juice.  Place in 2-qt baking dish.  (or mix directly in the baking dish)
2. Mix topping ingredients - melted butter, brown sugar, oats, and pecans - until crumbly, and spread evenly over fruit.
3. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until fruit is tender and bubbly and topping is browned.
4. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Yum!

Cranberry Apple Pie Oatmeal (a la Mode)

I love oatmeal in the morning.  I usually cook my oatmeal with dried apples, dried cranberries, and cinnamon - and that's pretty much the perfect oatmeal, but I saw this recipe for Apple Pie Oatmeal on Pinterest, and it looked so good, I just had to try it.  Reading the recipe now, I see that I did not actually follow the recipe.  How could I miss the part about cooking the apple with nuts, butter, brown sugar and spices?  I will have to try it again, I guess.

Here's how I made my oatmeal, and it turned out quite good, too.  Maybe it doesn't actually qualify as an Apple Pie Oatmeal, but I'll call it what I want!

Cranberry Apple Pie Oatmeal (a la Mode)

• Bring to boiling 1 cup water with a dash of salt
• While water boils, cut half an apple into small pieces
• Reduce heat to medium and stir in 1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
• Add some cinnamon, the chopped apples, some dried cranberries and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally
• Turn burner off or remove from heat; cover and let sit for a few minutes

To serve: top with a little brown sugar and vanilla yogurt  (I used Yoplait Honey Vanilla Greek yogurt - that's the a la Mode part!)

Next time I'm going to try cooking the apples, cranberries, and probably some walnuts with butter, brown sugar, and spices and then cooking the oatmeal with that - like the other recipe - and see if that makes a difference.  If there's a huge difference, I'll be sure to update this recipe.

I'll also go back to using plain yogurt, because the vanilla was a bit too sweet to me.  I love plain yogurt on my oatmeal.

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Apples and Apple Dip

Image via WikipediaI love apples.  They make great snacks.  They're good with popcorn, good with peanut butter, really good with this apple dip recipe I tried recently.  They're also good in pies, crisps, cakes, and muffins.

The problem I have is remembering which apples are good for what - which ones are for eating, which ones for baking and cooking.  So, when I found a list in the food section of my newspaper describing apple varieties and what they're good for, I saved it.

These are some of Wisconsin's favorite apples:

• Gala apples are small to medium in size with a yellow-pinkish skin.  Sweet and juicy, they are good for salads and cooking.
• Paula Red apples are medium-sized and are red over green skin.  Juicy and sweet, they are great for both cooking and eating.
• Fuji apples are large, with a reddish-pink skin.  They are sweet and best for eating and salads.
• McIntosh apples are small to medium in size with a bright red skin.  Mild, they are good for cooking, eating, and sauces.
• Honeycrisp apples are larger, with a red and green skin.  They are juicy, sweet and crisp.  Great for eating.
• Golden Supreme apples are medium-sized and sweet.  They are good for eating, salads and sauces.
• Ginger Gold apples are medium to large with a yellow skin.  Juicy and sweet, they are good for eating and baking.

I'm not sure if that helps or not.  I'll probably still buy my apples the way I usually do - by smelling them and buying the ones that smell the best.  I do know that I like tart apples like Granny Smith with that Apple Dip!  What?  You want the Apple Dip recipe?  All right, here you go.  I went looking for an apple dip recipe online - there are lots - and combined a couple that sounded good.

Apple Dip

• 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. crunchy peanut butter
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients together, then stir in some Heath bits o brickle (baking bits). I didn't measure them, just poured some in.

Serve with sliced apples. Tart apples are best.

This stuff was really popular!  It can be made without them, but the toffee bits really add something.  Somebody asked if it was peanut brittle in there, so next time I make this I am trying peanut brittle.  It sounds like it will be good.

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