Sinfully Good Dessert

And I mean SINFUL.  This stuff should be illegal and I hesitate to share it with you because I'm a little embarrassed that I even ate it knowing what was in it.  BUT, it did have apple in it, so it wasn't TOTALLY bad.  And I am a believer in making DESSERT if you're making DESSERT, meaning, don't try to lighten up a dessert by using fat free ingredients.  If you're concerned about calories, serve some fruit.  But if you're going to make dessert, make it how it's supposed to be made - serve smaller portions if you feel like it, but don't ruin by trying to make it healthy.  There, that's what I think about that.

Last weekend, my niece, Kendall, spent the afternoon with us.  We had so much fun (Allison, you done good, girl - what a wonderful young lady she is).  She watched Brooke (and Champ) while I ran to the store (a stark difference from "running" to the store with an almost 2 year old in tow) - huge treat!  After we had lunch and put Brooke down for a nap, we broke out my new Pioneer Woman cookbook and cooked our way through the afternoon.  The recipe is called, "Apple Dumplings."  Mmmm mmm.  This would be a great dessert to make after you go apple picking this Fall. 

Having a helper in the kitchen is AWESOME!  We divided and conquered and produced lots of yumminess that afternoon.  Kendall melted the sticks of butter - yes sticksssss.  Shhh... In one ear and out the other. 

While she did that, I peeled and sliced the 2 granny smith apples. 

Then I unrolled the croissant dough - yes, I know... butter & croissants and we're not even through with the recipe yet.  We put one apple slice on each piece of dough and rolled it up, croissant style. 

We placed those in a 9x13 baking dish. 

Kendall poured her yummy "sauce" (butter, vanilla extract, sugar) on top. 

Then we added 12 ounces of Mountain Dew. Yes, Mountain Dew.  Isn't that weird?  It was really liquidy and I thought, 'how in the world is this going to work....'  But work it did - so deliciously.

Into the oven it went and 45 minutes later, we had a "try" bite and we were oohing and aaahing over this simply sinful dessert as we served it with a little vanilla ice cream.

You can spoon the yummy syrupy sauce on top and it's just heavenly - a sure crowd pleaser!! 

I must say I was concerned about the caffeine in the Mountain Dew keeping the kids up all night.  Turns out they were fine - it was mama here who tossed and turned all night.  I might consider substituting Sprite next time.  We'll see... for now, I'll be serving fruit to give my arteries time to recover. 

Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
2 cans of crescent roll dough
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 12 ounce can Mountain Dew
Ground cinnamon to taste
Vanilla ice cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Wrap each apple wedge in 1 piece of crescent roll dough, beginning at the wide end and ending at the point.  Place the rolls, seam side down, in a buttered 9x13 inch dish.  Melt the butter over low heat and add sugar and vanilla.  No need to dissolve the sugar; you want the mixture to be grainy.  Pour this over the rolls.  Next, pour the Mountain Dew on top.  Finally, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve the dumplings with ice cream and don't forget to spoon on some of the syrup from the bottom of the pan!!