Apple Dumplings

Apple Dumplings

Ingredients: 

2 Granny Smith Apples

2 Sticks of Butter (1 cup)

1.5 Cups of Sugar

1 teaspoon of Vanilla

Ground Cinnamon 
(to taste, approx 3 teaspoons)

One 12oz Can of Mountain Dew
(I actually did not use a whole can)


Two cans of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Preparation:

***Preheat oven to 350***

 Peel both apples and slice into wedges

 Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish

 Remove Crescent roll dough from can

Roll up each apple slice in a crescent roll

Place rolled apple slices in your 
buttered baking dish in two rows 

In a saucepan, melt butter

Be careful not to burn your butter!

Once the butter is just melted, add sugar

Just barely mix the two together

Add Vanilla

Pour this mixture over the rolled 

apples in your baking dish

Pour Mountain Dew along the edges and down the middle
(You do not want it to wash the butter-sugar mix
off of the rolled apples, so be mindful of that!)

Sprinkle the top with cinnamon

(I bet brown sugar would be nice, too!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes

Let cool for approximately 15 minutes. 

Peanut Butter Pie Cookies

I saw something similar to this on Pinterest, but the picture had no recipe associated with it, so I pretty much just winged it.  I did not take any measurements since I did not think there was any real risk since I was working with such safe ingredients. I encourage everyone and anyone to experiment with this recipe and have fun!!! 

Ingredients: 

 

1 box of Pillsbury Pie Crust

(I recommend keeping your crust in the fridge all the way up until you use it)

Creamy Peanut Butter... 

...or Nutella! 

light brown sugar 
(or brown sugar for a more robust flavor)

 sugar

Preparation:

Right from the fridge, roll out one of your two pie crusts. 

Spread with your desired amount of peanut butter (or Nutella!)
I put a layer approximately 1/8th of an inch thick. 

Sprinkle brown sugar over the peanut butter spread. 
I didn't measure, but I would guess that I used approximately 1/4 cup

Add the second pie crust on top of your peanut butter and brown sugar
(right from the fridge! If you have had it out this 
whole time it will be more difficult to work with) 

  Using a glass, cut out circles to your desired size cookie

Using either a fork or your fingers, 
pinch the edges of your cookies together. 

Toss each cookie in a 50-50 mixture of

 brown sugar and granular sugar

(Save this mixture, you can use the remaining sugar again later!)

Place each cookie on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 410 degrees for 7 minutes

You can stop here and keep a pie-like appearance...

... or for a sweeter cookie, toss in your remaining sugar mixture.

When I made these with Nutella I used a sugar

 icing from confectioners sugar and 

water and added an icing drizzle on top :)  

Macarons

Shout out to my dear friend Carey for helping me out with this one!!! 

Ingredients: 

*** It was recommended that the egg whites are separated three days prior to use*** 
*** Set out all ingredients ahead of time so they are at room temperature ***

2/3 cup of ground almonds 

(I used sliced almonds then used a food processor to ground) 

Finished 2/3 Cup Ground Almonds

1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

3 Large Egg Whites 

(Keep the yolks for filling recipes!)

5 Tablespoons of Granulated Sugar 

1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Preparation:

Position two racks in the lower section of the oven. 

Preheat to 280 degrees. 

The recipe I followed suggested drawing 1" circles on the back of parchment paper as a guide for your cookies.  I found this not to be very useful - but go ahead, give it a shot! 

I ended up cutting my paper to fit securely within my baking sheets.  

Grind powdered sugar and ground almonds together. 

Sift the mixture twice through a mesh sieve. 

Beat egg whites on medium-high until the eggs are frothy. 

  

 Gradually add granulated sugar until fully incorporated.

Continue to beat until glossy and stiff peaks form.

Gently stir in Vanilla. 

Add almond and sugar mixture slowly by folding into the meringue. 

Continue folding until the batter slowly drips into the bowl. 

Do not make the batter too runny. 

Using a pastry bag or a gallon Ziploc bad (seen here) pipe out 1" rounds. 

Rap the baking sheet firmly on the counter 2-5 times to remove all air bubbles. 

Place the uncovered sheets in a dry area to sit for approximately 15-20 minutes until a very smooth film/crust has formed (if you poke with your finger, no batter will stick). 

Place the sheets in the over for 2 minutes - one sheet on the bottom rack and one on the top.

After 2 minutes, open the over to let out any excess humidity. 

Continue baking for 5 more minutes, then swap the top and bottom sheets. 

Continue cooking for 8-10 minutes until the shells are just hard. 

Do not overbake (tops become brown). 

Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack for approximately 15 minutes. 

Fill with your favorite butter-cream or filling!