Easy as Pie

During Christmas break I was looking through my hope chest at my parents' house and found a stash of recipes I had torn out of magazines while I was in college. I carried them home and decided to start trying them out. The first recipe I've tried was called Mock Apple Pie. I remember saving this recipe because this "apple pie" didn't call for ANY apple product and was claiming it to taste like apple pie. I was very curious to see how it would be. I'm all for trying weird things in recipes. I once tried a recipe for chocolate fudge that called for Velveeta cheese. You couldn't even taste the cheese. Ok, back to the pie...Here's what you need for this very simple-to-make pie:

pastry for 2 crust 9 inch pie (I got the Pillsbury pie crusts from the frozen section)

36 Ritz Crackers, coarsely broken (about 1 3/4 cups crumbs)

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups water

2 tsp cream of tartar

Grated peel of 1 lemon

2 Tbs lemon juice

2 Tbs butter

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out one of the pie crusts and place in 9 inch pie plate. Place cracker crumbs in crust and set aside.

-Mix sugar and cream of tartar in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water until well blended. Bring to boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 15 minutes. Add lemon peel and juice and cool. Pour syrup over cracker crumbs. Dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon.

-Roll out the other pie crust and place it over pie. Seal and flute the edges. Slit top crust to allow steep to escape.

-Bake 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden. Cool completely.

See? No apples. How does it taste? AMAZING! It really does taste like apple pie. Now, it's not exactly like apple pie because there's not little chunks of apples, but it's so much easier to make. You don't have to peel, core, or slice apples, which is a huge time saver. I found out that this pie was created during the depression era as a money-saving alternative to apple pie. How neat is that?

The filling is the consistency of pecan pie. You know, the gooey inside minus the pecans? Here's a picture of the inside.

Of course I think everything is better a-la-mode, especially apple pie. Don't worry, I added some ice cream but didn't want it take a picture of it because it would've melted pretty quickly.

Here's wishing everyone a great week.