Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings

If you are a diabetic, turn away now. Just looking at this could give you some serious problems.

For the rest of you, this is one of my new favorite desserts! It is super easy and oh-so-delicious. I found this on the Pioneer Woman's site a while back and finally decided to try it. And boy am I glad I did.

I just need to say one thing before we get started: This dessert is going to be the death of my hips. The end.



Here is what you will need. Crescent rolls, sugar, butter, granny smith apples, vanilla, cinnamon and mountain dew.




First, go ahead and butter a 9x13 baking dish.




Then you will want to peel and core two granny smith apples and slice them up into eight pieces each.




Roll out the crescent rolls and separate them into eight triangles




Then take an apple slice and roll it into the crescent roll.




See? Simple. Do this until all of the crescent rolls have an apple slice.




Then line your buttered baking dish with the rolled up apples. Make sure to get them all nice and cozy or else they wont all fit.




Now melt two sticks of butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.





Once the butter is all melted, dump in 1-1/2 cups of sugar.





Now just barely stir them together. Barely stir. This is important.



Remove the pot from the heat and then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Gently stir together. You want this mixture to be lumpy. Remember that.




Poor the mixture over the top of the "dumplings". Make sure you coat them all in this sugary, buttery, oh so good for you mixture. You don't want to leave any out!




Now for the Mountain Dew. Oh man. Let me just take a moment to tell you a little story.

I had a serious addiction to Mountain Dew for about four years. I couldn't live without the stuff. If I had less than three a day I would get withdrawal headaches. It was the only way I made it through college and teaching three year olds. This was pretty much my alcohol. Sad, I know. But that is beside the point.

When I got pregnant with Zachariah I stopped consuming caffeine. Due to my "morning sickness" last for the whole 9 months, I couldn't consume much of anything. Regardless, I stopped drinking Mountain Dew... cold turkey. It was rough, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Once I got past the withdrawal symptoms I was golden. After I gave birth I started breastfeeding, and then by the time I was done with that I just kind of forgot about caffeine. I probably only have about a dozen caffeinated beverages a year. Its crazy when I think about it.

Anyway. Those are the facts. I have only had Mountain Dew a handful of times since being pregnant with Zachariah. So the fact that I was holding a bottle in my hands was monumental.

Just thought you should know.




Ok, so the recipe calls for a 12 ounce can of Mountain Dew, but all I had was this massive bottle. So I only used about half of it. Pour the Mountain Dew around the sides of the pan and let it flow all around the dumplings.

And yes. Yes I did drink the rest of the Mountain Dew. And I loved every second of it.




Now sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 min. Watch them to make sure they dont get too brown. You want a nice golden crispy top.



And here is the finished product! When I took them out of the oven I had a TON of liquid sloshing around. So I just drained a little bit of the excess liquid into a bowl before I served the cute little dumplings.

And that's it! Serve them warm with some vanilla ice cream. It will definitely be worth it. Trust me.

Thanks again, Pioneer Woman. You rock my socks.



Ingredients:
2 whole Granny Smith Apples
2 cans crescent rolls (8 0z cans)
2 sticks butter
1-1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cinnamon, to taste
1 can (12 oz) Mountain Dew

Directions:
Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream and enjoy!