Apple Dumplings for my Gang!

I'm sitting here this freezy snowy morning drinking my coffee and daydreaming about eating one of these!

Gooey Goodness wrapped up in a Dumpling! Last week we had some good friends bring dinner over to share and I made these for dessert. I had found the recipe at The Pioneer Woman, and it looked too good not to try! Don't you just want to reach into the picture and grab one?

You start with these indgredients:

Two apples (Pioneer Lady uses Granny Smith's but I didn't want to run to the store...), Cinnamon, Butter, Vanilla, SUGAR, Crescent Rolls & (the secret weapon) Mt. Dew! I know, healthy, right??? I'm happy to help shoot all your New Year's resolutions right out the window!!!

First you want to peel you apples and slice them up. You'll need 8 slices from each apple. Open up your crescent rolls and separate the triangles. Roll up each apple slice in a crescent roll. Line them up in a greased baking dish/pan. I used my 9 x 13 sized Pyrex.

Start melting two sticks of butter in a sauce pan. The Pioneer Woman used regular, salted, butter. Again...I was a rebel...we only had unsalted at the time and I used it instead. And our dumplings were awesome. So now I'm wondering if they would be awesomer with salted butter. Can someone tell me the difference...besides the salt factor? Is one better for baking sweet things?

ANYWAY! Back on track. Dump in 1 1/2 cups sugar. Mix it gently! You want the low cal (ha ha ha) sauce to be a bit lumpy. Then add a teaspoon of vanilla and stir a couple more times. Pour this sauce over your dumplings.

Try to cover them up. I've got some dry bits poking out, but that's okay! Here's where it gets weird. Open up your Mt. Dew. The recipe calls for 12 ounces. I didn't end up using anywhere near that much. You want to pour the MD around the edges of your pan. And it FIZZIES up! I love when things get fizzy while cooking!

I tried to capture the Fizz! Sprinkle cinnamon all over the top and then bake it at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes. You want the dumplings to be nice and golden brown! We served them with vanilla ice cream. It was a little bit of heaven!

OH! One final direction...TRY not to snatch the pan off the table and lick it clean! Especially if you have company over!!!