Tonight we went to the weekly LVMC meeting and I brought two pies. Two mock apple pies.

Yes, I said mock…apple pies! I was supposed to bring them last week, but I was in NYC with dad, and I honestly couldn’t remember when I promised to make them, so…I wanted to make up for it this week and I made two mock apple pies.

Back to the pies. I found this recipe a few months ago, I honestly don’t know how I found it, what I was looking for, none of that, but I found the recipe and I couldn’t believe it, so I thought…why not! I can’t eat real apples and this doesn’t have any apples in it, so…here we go!

The recipe calls for water, sugar, cream of tartar, 30 buttery round crackers, c’mon, we all know what those are! and yes, 30, well, 30 for the filling, and 1 cup crushed for the topping, cinnamon, lemon juice, and a pie shell. I know it sounds crazy, but those are all the ingredients.

Here is the history of the mock apple pie, it actually dates back to the mid-1800 when fresh fruit, apples specifically were scarce, inventive cooks would use salted crackers or stale bread. In the 30’s Nabisco started putting the recipe on the back of the box.

Why does mock apple pie taste like real apple pie? “Mock apple pie tastes like apple pie because it uses ingredients that mimic the flavor and texture of apples. The acidic qualities of crackers, combined with other ingredients like lemon juice, cream of tartar, and cinnamon, create a flavor profile that’s similar to apple pie.” Works for me!

So…a few months ago, I bought a box of Ritz Crackers, lemon juice, pie crusts, and cream of tartar, the rest I had in the cabinets. I set about making the pie and unfortunately, the crumble top got a little burned, but….I pulled off as much of the burned pieces I could and I cut a slice for PSM and I.

Let me tell you… two things happened…One: IT TASTED LIKE APPLE PIE!!! and two: PSM said “I might have to have another slice!” That doesn’t always happen! Not because he doesn’t like what I make, he does, most of the time, and i will admit, not everything I make is great, but he’s not a huge sweets guy and…he’s not really a pie guy!

For our wedding, neither of us wanted a cake, and when I mentioned pie, he quickly said no, he doesn’t like pie, which I happen to la la la love! So…when he said he’d have another piece, and he had one… tickle me…well, tickle me pink!

So…I knew I wanted to make two pies to take to the club tonight, all food is sold and the profits go to the club, what could be better?! Share some sweets and help the club? Score! I started making the first pie, PSM brought me another pie crust when he got home.

The first pie I made in our Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven thing, I had the pie on the top rack, too close to the top, so it burned the crumble on top, part way through I moved it to the oven and kept it on the lowest rack possible.

Second pie, I made in the oven, lowest rack possible, top still burned a little, and interestingly, both pies had the same amount of filling, one was fluffier than the other, hmmm….either way I made two pies, wrapped them up in tin foil and we headed to the clubhouse.

They went to the kitchen, we went up to the meeting and after the meeting, while we were all hanging out, people started to have some pie, $3 a slice, very reasonable! One guy, JB, told me he made the same pie last week. Someone else, who happens to be a fabulous baker, asked me for the recipe! Can you imagine! Then a few other people had a slice, even PSM bought a slice!

I kept having to tell people, ‘no!’ there are no apples in this pie! Don’t ask me how it works, it just does! PSM said I shouldn’t sell it as a mock apple pie, but I completely disagree, I want people to know what it is and how great it is! And it was so great! they asked me to make some for the clubhouse when we have bingo night! I was tickled… pink, like a pink lady apple! HA HA

I was in a good mood when I made the pies, which you really have to be in a good mood when you bake or things just don’t come out right, and I was in an even better mood when people told me how much they liked it and asked me to make it again! I’ll come down off the cloud soon! Best part…there was a little pie left so guess who got to take it home! Y U M!!!

If you make it, let me know how it came out! And if you could believe your tastebuds!