Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C). Lightly coat a standard 9×13-inch glass or ceramic baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and set it aside.

Peel and core your Granny Smith apples, slicing each apple carefully into 8 equal wedges to give you 16 pieces total.

Pop open both cans of refrigerated crescent roll dough. Separate the triangles along the perforated lines.

Place one apple wedge at the wide end of a dough triangle, and roll it up tightly toward the pointed tip to encase the fruit completely. Arrange the wrapped dumpling flat in the prepared baking dish. Repeat this rolling process for all 16 pieces, lining them up in two neat rows.

In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, melt the 2 sticks of unsalted butter completely.

Add the granulated white sugar and ground cinnamon to the melted butter, stirring firmly with a whisk to combine. Let the mixture heat through for 1 minute until the sugar starts to dissolve, then remove the pan from the burner and stir in the vanilla extract to complete your rich cinnamon-butter sauce baseline.

Spoon or pour the hot cinnamon-butter mixture uniformly over the top of the crescent-wrapped dumplings in the baking dish.

Pour the can of Mountain Dew soda carefully into the sides and open spaces of the baking dish around the dumplings. Do not pour the soda directly over the top of the dough rounds, as you want to avoid washing away the sugar-cinnamon baseline rub you just applied.

Place the baking dish uncovered on the middle oven rack and bake at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes.

The dumplings are finished baking the exact moment the crescent dough crowns puff up fully and take on a beautiful, deep golden-brown color, and the surrounding soda liquid bubbles fiercely.

Remove the pan from the oven and let it stand flat on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. The interior fruit filling holds immense heat, so this cooling window allows the syrup to settle safely and thicken up slightly. Serve individual dumplings warm, spooning plenty of the hot caramel syrup baseline from the bottom of the pan over the top, alongside a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.