Beware: Sweet Treat Below!

Continue at your own risk!  You are about to be temped by something so sweet and yummy that once you try it, there is no turning back!  Compliments for a colleague of mine, enjoy some Apple Dumplings!

2 whole Granny Smith Apples
2 cans of crescent rolls
2 sticks of butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla
Cinnamon, to taste
1 can of Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples.  Cut each apple into 8 slices.  Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll.  Place in a 9x13 buttered pan.  Set aside. 

Melt butter in a small pot, add sugar and barely stir.  Stir in vanilla, then pour over apples.  Pout Mountain Dew around edges of pan.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Serve with ice cream and spoon some of that sweet sauce over the top!

Now-not to rain on anyone's parade, but as you could probably guess, the calories on this sweet treat are up there!  Each serving is 495 calories!  Well...I experimented a little.  I used SmartBalance instead of butter, and I forgot to get Mountain Dew at one store, so I ended up getting a lemon-lime soda at another.  With these two changes, I was able to get the calories down to 439 per serving.  Still not great, but better!

If you are desperate to reduce the calories even further, I figured that replacing the butter with SmartBalance, the sugar with Splenda, and the Mountain Dew with Diet Mountain Dew, it would bring you to 372 calories per serving.  Almost 125 calories less. Now-that's pretty darn good!  I know there is the debate out on how good Splenda really is for you, or any sugar replacement, so you choose the option that is best for you!

Okay, okay!  Some pictures!