One dream, dashed.
(Cue melodramatic music!)
Life tells us to dream big. To open our minds to grand possibilities.
I dared to dream a delicious dream -- making it to the finals in the Pillsbury Bake-Off.
And I didn’t make it. (But these recipes did.)
Here, for your baking and eating displeasure, is my big fat loser entry. Bake and eat at your own risk.
Tropic of Mom’s Caramel Apple Strudel
Ingredients
2 cans large (5-count) cinnamon rolls
1 jar caramel ice cream topping
1/2 stick butter
4-6 apples, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a large jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. If you know any songs by Jelly Roll Morton or songs about jelly rolls, now would be a good time to sing or whistle them.
Melt butter (1/2 stick) in a medium saucepan over medium heat. It’s all very medium. Place apples in the pan, stirring to coat with butter, and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, open refrigerated cinnamon roll packages and separate the rolls. (Aside: Did you ever hear that old joke about the blond whose refrigerated dough can exploded in her car and hit her in the head, but she thought she’d been shot and her brains were coming out? No?) Unroll each roll and place lengthwise on the pan, placing each strip of dough close to the edge of the next strip on the pan. The two cans (10 cinnamon rolls) should fill the pan, placed next to one another this way.
Stir one jar of caramel ice cream topping into the pan of cooled apples, mixing to coat. Use a slotted spoon to place the apple mixture on one-half of the pan of dough. Fold the strips of dough over the apples (effectively folding each strip in half), tucking the ends under and pinching edges of dough closed. Your pastry is now all on one side of the pan. I know, it’s weird. It’s fine for there to be some gaps in the top of the dough.
Bake strudel for 20 minutes or until the dough becomes golden brown. Allow strudel to cool slightly, then top with one container of cream cheese frosting from the packages of cinnamon rolls. Or heck, go crazy and put both containers of frosting on top. Slice and serve warm.
PS For those of you who don’t know, the bake-off requires your recipe to include certain Pillsbury ingredients, and in certain amounts.
PPS Variation: I made this again today for the purpose of taking a picture and didn’t have enough apples. I used one apple, 2 Tablespoons of butter and 4 Tablespoons of caramel topping. I like it even better. Mmm....
