April Fool's Food: Sky High Apple Pie (Fruit-Free Version)!

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Pie! For realz. But no realz apples.

Apple Pie! Is it or isn’t it?

In fact…it isn’t! It looks like Apple pie (it fooled the DH) and tastes like Apple pie (there’s some serious chemistry behind why), but…it’s not apple pie! It’s actually made out of crackers, with lemon juice, cream of tartar, sugar, and cinnamon. The cream of tartar tastes slightly acidic and fruity, and helps the crackers hold their shape so that they look like sliced apples. In addition to the acidic and fruity cream of tartar, the cinnamon and lemon helps trick our brain into thinking it’s apple pie.

I first came across the recipe in “The Morningside Papers”, a book by Peter Gzowski. Apparently, though, the recipe has been around for over a hundred years in various forms, with some people saying it was developed by pioneers travelling west across North America who didn’t have access to fresh fruit, but did have access to hardtack (a super-hard type of biscuit with a super-long shelf life). How these pioneers had access to lemon juice, I don’t know, but maybe they used apple cider vinegar or some such thing.

Putting it all together. Or should I say…putting on the Ritz! Tee hee hee!

But my recipe is easy! I used Ritz crackers, although saltine crackers can be used too. And of course, I used my always perfect vodka pie crust recipe! It’s an easy pie to pull together, really. Just fill the pie crust with crackers boiled in a sugar solution, pour lemon juice over the crackers, and sprinkle some cinnamon on top. Bam, DONE! Ok, it’s a teeeensy bit more than that, but not much! Want to make some yourself to fool unsuspecting apple pie lovers? Here’s the recipe to make a small (but not tiny) single serving apple pie, made in a fruit tart pan.

Sky High Apple Pie, Fruit-Free Version

adapted from RITZ Mock-Apple Pie

1/3 of my vodka pie crust recipe
13 Ritz crackers
boil:
2/3 c. water
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 and 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. lemon juice
a bit less than 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Roll out pie crust and fit into two tart pans. Mix water, sugar, and cream of tartar together and boil. Once the mixture has boiled, add in the 13 crackers and simmer for a minute or two. The crackers will start to look fuzzy and possibly disintegrate a bit. That’s ok!

Place sodden crackers into one of the pie crusts. It should fill it to heaping. Poke holes in the filling, and carefully pour a mixture of lemon juice and cinnamon over the pie. Put second pie crust on top and use a fork to press the edges together. Cut some slits in the top for the steam to escape. If you want a fancy looking pie, you can brush a beaten egg over the top, and then sprinkle it with large grain sugar. It’ll give it that fancy-pants look!

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until golden on the outside.

Sing a song of…crackers?

And…does it taste like apple pie? It really does!

I gave a slice to the DH, and he agreed that it was good apple pie. Even though he had seen me taking photos with the Ritz cracker box, and even though I had been telling him that I was going to bake with the crackers, he still didn’t believe me when I told him the apple pie was actually cracker pie.

DH: What? Really? No! Look, I see apple!

Me: No, sweetie, that’s a cracker.

DH: No, it’s apple! *pokes at it with fork* See? It’s apple!

Eventually he believed me, but ha ha ha! I managed to trick him! So I think you’ll be able to trick your friends and family too! If you do make this pie and share it with people, post in the comments what their reactions are; I’d love to hear about them!

Close-up of the apple-icious action!

And a Happy April’s Fool’s Day to you all!

Next Post: Potato, Potahto…or Buns? That’s right, I’m carb-loading because…carbs are tasty and that’s all there is to say. And one last thing, I’m trying to go viral by linking up with Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate website. It’s an awesome site, by the way!

Linking up at Meal Plan Monday.

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