I have had a recipe my grandma, Mawmaw, gave me for something called Appless Pie for some time now. In 1991 she made me a little cookbook up of all her favorite recipes and the stories behind them. Here is what the card says:"This recipe, I have had more fun with. This friend and I used to make what we told everyone was an apple pie. After we gave them a piece of apple pie, they say sure was good apple pie. We would tell them that is wasn't apple pie and they thought we were lying. I wrote this before the recipe in case you want to have some fun"
Well, I'm always up for a bit of fun and trickery, so I made this for dessert last Sunday.
I learned that you can't get one over on my victims...I served all a slice of the pie and waited about 10 minutes after they ate it till I asked them "So how was the apple pie?" the first victim piped up immediately "Was that a mock apple pie?" DAMN IT!!! Then everyone pretty much just agreed with her...I think what gives it away is the texture. The mock pie filling is very smooth. Everyone did agree that the pie was very good, just not quite believable as an apple pie. Maybe a better way to go about this trickery is to just serve the pie and not claim it as any flavor. When they ask, get all defensive and say "You couldn't tell? What do you think it is?" and as they grasp for an answer and squirm in their seats, you can get your laugh!
Here is the recipe, in case you ever want to have some fun:
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APPLESS PIE
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsps cream of tartar
cinnamon
butter
2 cups water
23 Ritz crackers
pie shell
2 tsps cream of tartar
cinnamon
butter
2 cups water
23 Ritz crackers
pie shell
Boil sugar, water and cream of tartar one min. Drop in crackers. Do not stir. Boil two mins. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Put in butter and sprinkle cinnamon on top. Put on top pie crust and bake until brown at about 350 degrees.
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She didn't say how much butter or cinnamon, so do whatever you feel like.
At the end of the recipe card she wrote:
"In case you ever decide to trick someone, I want to know how it turns out, ok?"
I ask the same of you all too...
At the end of the recipe card she wrote:
"In case you ever decide to trick someone, I want to know how it turns out, ok?"
I ask the same of you all too...
10 comments:
I saw a recipe for mock apple pie in the newspaper a few years ago and thought it was the funniest thing I ever saw. I cut out the recipe, but I still haven't tried it out. Now I am thinking about using that pie crust in the freezer to give it a shot.
dang! i dont know how much butter or cinnamon, I just dont cook! it sounds like a recipe i would try!
i want to try now because of my new digs...
I've been lurking for a couple of days and am finally getting a chance to post a comment. The Appless Pie sounds great put what really got me is that your grandma took time to write out her recipes with stories - that's awesome! My extended family did that a few years ago but the stories weren't really related to cooking and were few and far between (not that I don't treasure it nonetheless of course). I'd love it if some of my great aunts or my granny took took the time to do that!
My Mum had this recipe but I don't ever recall her making it. When I asked about it while going through her recipe book before I left home, she said it was from the war (WW2) when they couldn't always get apples! I don't know if it's true or not, but it made sense to me at the time because I'd heard so many stories about shortages from her. In fact, she said the family was glad when I was born because they could get more sugar!
I call my grandma, Maw Maw, too. My husband picks on me, but I think its a southern thing... Sorry, this a random comment. :)
This post really brought back some fond memories for me. My grandma used to make a version of the Appless Pie, but is was a little different. She called it Appless Squares, & tried to trick us too. After the joke was over, she said that it was made with small pieces of cut up Zucchini, and I remember her also saying something about lemon juice in the recipe [that's what really made the Zucchini taste like apples]. It really did taste like apple squares!! It was so good too. Since you have such a Fabulous collection of cookbooks, have you every seen a recipe like that? :)
I'm hungry : )
I could be wrong, but I seem to recall a similar recipe being printed on the Ritz cracker boxes when I was a kid. That would be about 1965 and it seemed old even then.
I thought it might be a Depression-era recipe, which I find curious because I always imagine the crackers as being more expensive than apples. But I think Louanne's explanation makes more sense.
Another trick my grandma used to do to my grandpa was to use zucchini instead of apples. The zucchini takes on any flavor that it's cooked with. Also Grandma always had more zucchini than apples.
Lori
I think my M.I.L. used saltines in hers. Great site, I've enjoyed the funky decorating.
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