Apple Dumplings

It was a Pioneer Woman Weekend! We made a bunch of recipes from her site over the weekend and I decided to repost our favorites here for easy reference. But if you haven't ever visited her site, be sure to go there for the best, no-fail, step by step instructions, that are funny to boot. Her stuff is amazing! But for a boring, basic list of ingredients and basic directions, you can come here. But only if you have to... These dumplings were probably our favorite recipe of the weekend. They are quite simply mouth wateringly amazing. And so easy to make. And not at all healthy, but oh well. They're totally worth it.

Apple Dumplings (go here for step by step, mouth watering pictures...)

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 8 slices
2 packages crescent rolls (I just used the regular size)
2 sticks salted butter (I only used 1 1/2 and think I could have gotten away with even less...)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 t vanilla
8 oz. Mountain Dew (the small cans work well)
Cinnamon

Butter a 9x13 pan. Unroll your crescent roll dough and roll an apple into each piece. (We felt like the dumplings could have used a bit more apple and next time we'll probably add two slices apple per dumpling... we'll see). Arrange your dumplings neatly in your pan.

Melt 2 sticks butter in saucepan. Add sugar and barely stir together. Add vanilla, and again barely stir together. You want your mixture grainy and a bit lumpy.

Now pour your sugar mixture over the apple dumplings in the pan, carefully coating them all. Then pour your can of Mountain Dew all along the edges of the pan. Finally, give the dumplings a generous coating of cinnamon and bake!

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, until nice and golden brown. They are then best served warm with a generous helping of vanilla ice cream.