recipe: apple dump cake

      This is an apple dump cake, but we've ended up calling it the "apple thing." As in, "This apple thing is delicious," "You know what would be good on this apple thing? A scoop of vanilla ice cream," and, "Would it be wrong to have a bowl of apple thing after lunch?" From personal experience, I can tell you that a hearty spoonful of two of this stirred into your oatmeal makes a fantastic breakfast.

Apple Dump Cake
Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody's Apple Snickerdoodle Dump Cake
* Peabody's blog is one of my favorite baking blogs: great recipes with a serious dash of humor and personality. While I've only tried a few of her recipes so far, they've been hits: her Boozy Banana Bread and Pumpkin Muffins are excellent!

Ingredients:

• 5 apples that are suitable for baking (I used 1 Golden Delicious, 2 Fujis, and 2 Granny Smiths)
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• squirt of lemon juice
• juice of 1 clementine
• healthy sprinkle of ground cinnamon
• healthy sprinkle of ground ginger
• healthy sprinkle of ground cloves
• 1.5 cups of yellow cake mix (I had a partially used box of cake mix, so this was what was left in the box. There's some wiggle room on how much mix you use, and what kind - Peabody's recipe calls for 1 cup of snickerdoodle cookie mix.)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Peel, core and slice the apples.
3. Saute the apples in a skillet with the sugars, clementine juice, lemon juice, and ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Cook until tender and cooked down (you can taste test one of the apples to make sure!)
4. Transfer the apples to an 8x8-inch baking pan, leaving the juices in the skillet. 
5. Add the butter to the skillet and melt it over low heat.
6. Sprinkle the cake mix over the apples.
7. Pour the butter mixture over the cake mix.
8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until browned and delicious-looking.