For those of you who’ve read my blog posts before, you already know that I’m a huge fan of super simple, yet delicious recipes. And for me, nothing can get much better or easier than cooking with a slow cooker.

Now that the weather has finally cooled off a bit, I’ve been making a lot of slow cooker recipes like chili and beef stew - the perfect meals for a crisp fall day. But, I have to admit I’ve never cooked dessert in the slow cooker before. I’ve seen plenty of recipes, but none that I thought were worth trying, until now.

This recipe comes from Southern Living, and is perfect because it uses everyday ingredients, is cheap to make and captures all the flavors of fall in every bite.

All you need are:

5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into ¼-inch thick slices

2 tablespoons lemon juice

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ cup cold butter

¾ cup chopped toasted pecans

Vanilla ice cream

Place the apples in a lightly greased 6-quart slow cooker, drizzle with lemon juice, and then toss to coat.

Combine the flour, dark brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle flour mixture over apples.

Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or until apples are tender. Sprinkle with pecans and serve with warm ice cream.

photo credit: stu_spivack