It feels to me like it all happened at the same time.  You know, we had this long weekend and then school started.  Everything fun stopped.  The weather changed.  People became just a little bit insane again.  I'm wearing jackets to run to work in the morning.  And it's Fall.  I haven't adjusted yet.
Just like that.
I'm not a fall hater or anything.  It's just that I'm a summer lover.  Now that I'm thinking about it, I would probably like fall well enough if I didn't know that it was the predecessor to winter.  I'm not a fan.
Admittedly, with my pantry more stocked than it's ever been in my entire life, I guess that I feel ready.  Do we ever feel truly ready for all the craziness of fall.  It's not the season it's the getting back to everything'ness' about it.  I wrote a post back in July or August or something about not getting a chance to eat lunch because... I was sitting outside reading all afternoon.  Yeah, crazy.  I wonder if I would get sick of doing that if I could just do it anytime.  It wouldn't be a novelty (this is me wondering still).  Nah.  That's dumb.  I bet it would still feel great 6 months, 2 years... hell, 5 years in.  I don't think that I would ever miss the hustle of the morning rush.
So, fall is apples right.  Partly.  Somewhat... at least.
Yeah, we have this on/off thing with apples goin' on here.  Right now we're in the off phase.  So, these perfectly beautiful Paula Reds were slowly shrinking into those funny heads that we used to see in the eighties.  You know, the ones with cloves for eyes and these weird mouth and nose things.  So, I decided to make some apple cake.



I saw this recipe in the Baked book and for some reason it just made sense to me.  I figured that if I left out the chocolate chips, added in some nutmeg and ginger, subbed out the cream cheese icing for apples slices and streusel that the whole thing would be amazing.  It never really occurred to me that I could just try for another recipe.  That seems weird to me now.  Here it is though, all made and with all those bizarre inclusions and exclusions.  I'm not missing the icing at all.  Mine burnt a little on the bottom FYI and on the sides too.  Voila... le proof.


I'm not all freaked about it, I just cut the crap off and moved on.  Black crunchy edges aside it came out quite nicely.


Apple Oatmeal Cake adapted from Baked Explorations
1 9x13 inch cake

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature and cubed
2 eggs slightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 dashes each of nutmeg and ground ginger
3 med. apples (I used Paula Reds) cored and sliced thin
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp streusel

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Butter a 9x13 inch cake pan (glass or light metal)
Heat 1 1/4 cups water to boiling.
Combine the oats and butter together in a bowl and pour the boiling water over.   Mix well and set aside for about 25 - 30 minutes.
In another bowl whisk together the eggs, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  Mix well.
Add the cooled oatmeal mixture and mix well.
Fold in the flour and mix just until incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Place the apple slices on top of the batter in one layer.
Top with the streusel topping.
Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Cool for about 30 minutes before eating.