A New Spin on an All American Dessert

  

      With Independence Day upon us, many of us are in search for something to cook that reminds us of American tradition.  Flags are flying, barbecues are starting, fireworks displays are abundant, but what could be more American than apple pie?  You could probably ask George Washington himself and find nothing comes closer than this dessert.   As much as I love apple pie, and we all know I love a good shredded apple pie, I thought it might be more interesting to experiment with it and create something different.  A few days ago, I was browsing facebook and a friend of mine posted a picture of what were called "crack sticks" or "crack rolls".  The name is less than to be desired, however they looked amazing and I knew then that I was going to be making these things!  After making them, I realized that they were very similar to a cheesecake chimichanga that I had eaten before.  Having a huge love for apple desserts, I decided to add apples into the filling and instead of wrapping them in flattened white bread, I would use flour tortillas.  The results were out of this world!  

Apple Pie Cheesecake Chimichangas:

Ingredients:

4 burrito size flour tortillas

8 ounces of cream cheese

1 and 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar

dash salt

1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

1 cup canned apple pie filing diced

1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter melted

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Mix cream cheese, confectioners sugar, salt, and vanilla until smooth.  After mixing, mix in apple pie filling.  

3.  Spread filling onto one tortilla at a time. 

4.  Roll up each tortilla and set aside.

5.  In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter for about 30 seconds.  Time may need to be adjusted depending on the strength of your microwave.  Be sure that the bowl is going to be big enough to place the entire tortilla roll inside without folding.

6.  In a separate and equally large bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon.  

7.  Place buttered tortillas into the sugar and cinnamon mixture until completely coated. 

8.  Spray a large glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  

9.  Place tortilla rolls inside and bake for 20 minutes.

      These are wonderful served right out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.  The great thing about this is, you can substitute the apple pie filling with just about any fruit.  Blueberries come to mind because around our area they are everywhere.  No matter what you choose to fill them with, they are sure to please.

Happy 4th of July, 

Michelle : )