2009.05.15
Mocking the fake apple pie
A mock apple pie
I can't help it. As a devoted lover of a good apple pie (I'll take a piece of apple pie over any other dessert any day!), I just can't get it through my thick skull that someone would want to make an apple pie without the apples.
I'm talking about the Ritz cracker "Mock Apple Pie" recipe, which has been around for years but is being touted again as Ritz celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. If you haven't heard of this recipe before, it basically calls for crackers, flavored with sugar and cinnamon, in place of the apples.
Aren't apples the BEST part of an apple pie? What does one accomplish by leaving them out? OK, maybe some people are allergic to apples. I myself get a really itchy throat when I eat them raw, but cooked ones don't bother me. Is it to save money? Compare a box of Ritz crackers with a bag full of apples. Even if it is cheaper, you are not going to convince me that the new "Chocolate-Walnut Mock Apple Pie," which calls for walnuts and chocolate chunks, is cheap to make.
I wouldn't mind trying one of these pies sometime, just to see if I'm wrong. But I cannot bring myself to make one in my kitchen. If I make a pie, apples are going in it. What say you all? Am I being too hard on the mock apple pie? Just in case I am, I will attach the recipe below.
Ritz Mock Apple Pie
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 3/4 cups water
Pastry for a 2-crust pie
36 Ritz crackers, coarsely broken (about 1 3/4 cups)
Zest and 2 Tbsp. juice from one lemon
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Directions:
1. Mix sugar and cream of tartar in a medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer on low for 15 minutes. Stir in lemon zest and juice; cool for 30 minutes.
2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange bottom crust in 9-inch pie pan. Place cracker crumbs in crust. Pour sugar syrup over crumbs, then top with butter and cinnamon.
3. Place second crust over pie. Seal and flute the edge. Cut several slits in top crust to permit steam to escape. Place on parchment-covered baking sheet.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.
Note: To prevent crust from overbrowing, cover edge with foil near the end of baking time, if necessary.
Adaptation: Chocolate-Walnut Mock Apple Pie: Prepare as directed, sprinkling 1/2 cup each of chopped walnuts and semi-sweet chocolate chunks over cracker crumbs before covering with sugar syrup.
Source: Kraft Foods
I remember seeing that recipe on the cracker box as a child and wondering myself WHY??? would anyone want a cracker pie!
Comment by Debi — May 15, 2009 @ 11:58 am
wikipedia says: "A mock apple pie made from crackers was apparently invented by pioneers on the move during the nineteenth century who were bereft of apples. In the 1930s, and for many years afterwards, Ritz Crackers promoted a recipe for mock apple pie using its product, along with sugar and various spices."
Comment by seth — May 15, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
I agree - what's the point if there are no apples? It sounds ridiculous to me. How can you compare a soft, gooey apple filling to mushed-up crackers? I love a Ritz cracker but that's stretching it!
Comment by Kim — May 15, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
Sounds gross. I don't know what else to say.
Comment by Angela — May 15, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
Talk about a carb overload!
Comment by Rebecca — May 15, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
I've heard of it forever, but have never tried it. I agree, it makes no sense at all!!
Comment by Debbie — May 15, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
Amen. I definitely want APPLES in my pie!
Comment by ginny — May 15, 2009 @ 4:31 pm
I hoped when I saw this it was the one using zucchini and apple juice but alas, NO. Friends once made that one and it was GOOD. I can see it as a use for the ever abundant zuke. I would love THAT recipe. This one though? Um, Pass the Bolton Biscuits first.
Comment by anita allen — May 15, 2009 @ 6:23 pm
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. Egads. The horror. I'm originally from a suburb outside of NYC. We had apple orchards all over the place. The Ritz pie denigrates the whole philosophy of apple pie. Gah!
Comment by Amy — May 16, 2009 @ 12:47 pm
My 1st wife made a mock apple pie. It was delicious. I sure do miss the pie!
Comment by Jay Bryant — May 16, 2009 @ 4:12 pm
Always been curious about the apple-less pie, but never made it. But I notice that among the comments here about how it must be awful, the only comment from someone who had actually eaten it was that it was delicious. Hmmm...I might just have to try it.
A great apple pie can be easily made with the box of apple crisp mix that is always found around the apples in Food Lion and Kroger. Just follow the directions and bake it in a frozen pie crust.
Comment by Connie Akers — May 17, 2009 @ 7:16 am
I'm making a real apple pie tonight just to make myself feel better. Need to find a recipe for a crumb topping... I left the grocery store before I saw Connie's post.
Comment by Lindsey Nair — May 17, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
hmmm....What if it were named something else? An apple pie without the apples sounds silly, but if it were named something else, it might be more appealing.
Comment by Dana — May 18, 2009 @ 4:29 pm
Dana,
How about Lemon-Cinnamon Delight?
Comment by Debbie — May 19, 2009 @ 12:26 pm
Maybe "I'm Crackers for Crackers" Pie
Comment by Lindsey Nair — May 19, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
I'd definitely try something called Lemon-Cinnamon Delight.
Comment by Dana — May 19, 2009 @ 12:38 pm
Maybe I should go into Marketing.
Comment by Debbie — May 19, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
The whole point of the pie was to make one that tasted like apples back when fruit was extremely expensive. I don't think people on here realize that fruit used to be a luxury item back in pioneer days. If you read stories, oranges were given for christmas because fruit was so expensive it was a treat. You didn't just go to the grocery store like we do now. If there weren't any fruit trees out west, you didn't get any fruit, until people started planting orchards.
The reason this pie was made was because people from back east were homesick and their kids wanted to have apple pie. Since they couldn't actually afford any apples, they decided to make one using crackers. Ritz crackers are the modern equivalent to what they use, so that's why it's "their" recipe now.
Comment by Melissa — October 15, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
Melissa, you hit it in the X ring. If you don't have, or can't afford apples, and want to save your dried, you fake it. The Ritz pie is actually pretty good. Saltines, pilot biscuits, hard tack, all have gone into pies. Heck, lack of fruit is why things like vinegar pie, buttermilk pie, and shoo fly pie came into being.
@ Anita Allen - here is a page with several fake apple pies using zukes - http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,mock_apple_pie_zucchini,FF.html That is a great way to use up those that get to about the size of a small, or medium sized, dog.
Comment by Joe in N. Calif. — November 19, 2009 @ 6:30 pm