Easy Mock Apple Pie is made, believe it or not, without apples, but with buttery crackers and apple pie spice. It’s so simple to make and you will barely be able to taste the difference !
Easy Mock Apple Pie can be made dairy or vegan. Prefer vegan, just use dairy free, butter flavored crackers and dairy free dough.
Why would anyone want to invent a mock apple pie, you ask?
There seem to be a variety of thoughts as to when and why Mock Apple Pie was created.
Some say that it was during the time when American pioneers moved west in the middle of the 19th century and apples weren’t accessible like they were in the East.
Others claim that crackers and breadcrumbs were substituted for apples when supplies were gone during the winter.
Still others claim it was created during the Great Depression.
Ritz crackers are a popular cracker to use for this recipe and the company made the recipe popular by putting it on the back of their boxes sometime in the 1930s – this may be why people believe the pie was originally created during the Great Depression…
Want to make real apple pie, though? Try Easy Dairy Free Mini Apple Pies or Easy Dairy Free Apple Pie.
How about trying apple fritters? Easy Dairy Free Apple Fritters
Know what makes them taste so good, besides the apples? It’s the spice! Easy Apple Pie Spice
If I can bake, anyone can
I am the type of person who, when she sees something that looks easy to create, will try to do just that. And I will continue to try and try (sometimes spending more on the attempt than the item would cost to buy ready-made), until I either succeed or decide that I have had enough and have at least given it my best effort.
So, after a visit to a bakery one day, I decided to try my hand at some baking, starting with chocolate chip cookies.
Happily, they always came out tasting good (unless I forgot them in the oven and they burned), but I could never get them to come out the same way twice in a row. Sometimes they were more cakey, sometimes they were flat, and every once in a while they would even come out just right. But they never came out the same way twice in a row. Ever. However, I never gave up.
My next attempt at baking was birthday cakes. I started with a 9″x13″ pan and those were fine, but I wanted to present my kids with birthday cakes that were made of layers. So, I bought the round pans and found a good recipe.
Birthday after birthday, the cakes came out tasting terrific, but they were always lopsided. I was told to use a knife to level them off, but I would’ve had to cut off so much, I would’ve been left with very short cake, which wouldn’t have done at all. So, I just worked with what I had and used frosting to fill in the valleys as best as I could.
During this period of time, I learned a very valuable lesson. DO NOT put on frosting if your cake hasn’t cooled because the frosting will get runny. This is especially true if your cake is not level because everything on the top of your cake will slide…right…off.
Another issue I had while learning to bake cakes is that it is not like cooking. With cooking, like a lot of people, I can eyeball ingredients and the dishes will still come out good. Not so with baking. Most baking requires measuring, but like with measuring actual measuring spoons and cups.
One day, my daughter Elissa came into the kitchen while I was preparing some recipe or other (I had moved on to try other things besides just chocolate chip cookies and birthday cakes). Elissa is very competent when it comes to following directions when cooking and baking, and was horrified.
“You are NOT really measuring oil in the palm of your hand, are you?!”
I didn’t see what the problem was, and told her that I couldn’t be bothered to stop what I was doing to get the measuring spoons, and I certainly know what a tablespoon of oil should look like.
“You can’t bake the way you cook,” she informed me.
Finally, I decided OK, I am going to follow directions. I will measure properly and that will be it. So, I did.
The cake came out tasting really good, but it was really heavy.
I complained to Elissa.
“I followed the directions and even measured and look at it!”
We decided that she would try the recipe to see what was wrong (she is great at following exact measurements and was tired of my complaining).
I read the instructions to her (off a very highly reviewed recipe) and was very gratified when it came out heavy for her too. Ha!
She insisted we go over the instructions again and she also wanted to see the original recipe. I gladly showed her.
“You doubled the recipe,” she accused me. “Why?”
“Because I wanted a higher cake.”
“That is NOT considered following directions. The recipe is for two pans and you put double in each pan, so it couldn’t rise.”
Oh. I took back my “ha” and never did that again.
After a while, I finally gave in. Now, I follow directions and measure properly. Well, mostly.
Not surprising, everything I bake comes out as it should (of course…as long as I don’t forget to remove from the oven…!).
Baking Pantry Essentials
I never know when someone in my family is going to want a dessert at home, to bring to a friend’s house, or need for an event, so I like to make sure I can bake anything with very short notice. To that end, I keep a variety of supplies and ingredients in the house that will allow me to do just that.
I can’t tell you how many times I was glad to have whatever I needed within reach for the last-minute visitor or for when one of my kids went to a friend or had a school event without much prior notice.
I have slowly collected things over the years as I needed them (or if I found a good sale) and like to keep more than one of the smaller items, in case I don’t want to wash dishes in the middle of baking.
My basic “equipment” includes:
- a stand mixer, which I use mostly for dough and, sometimes whipping
- a hand mixer (for things that aren’t dough and I don’t want to mix manually)
- a small scale
- different sizes and shapes of baking pans, including loaf pans
- mixing bowls (or just large bowls—I have plastic, glass, and metal)
- cookie sheets
- pie dishes
- dry measuring cups
- liquid measuring cups
- whisks
- rubber spatulas (really good for when you don’t want to leave anything in the bowl)
- rolling pins
- a baking mat for rolling out dough
- baking strips
- a good supply of baking (or parchment) paper (also round for layer cakes)
I can certainly get by without a lot of the above, but it makes baking so much simpler when I just have whatever I need at my fingertips.
In addition to the equipment, there are the baking ingredients that I try to keep in the house at all times:
- flour
- white granulated sugar
- brown sugar (light/dark—I usually keep dark)
- confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- cocoa powder
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- ground ginger
- ground cloves
- baking chocolate
- chocolate chips
- instant dry yeast
- vanilla and/or vanilla sugar
- cooking oil/cooking spray
- margarine or butter
- eggs
- honey
- instant coffee
- various extracts (real or imitation)
I also make sure that I have the following on hand to be able to make a variety of fillings, frostings, and toppings:
- whipping cream
- powdered pudding mix
- powdered sugar
- a good chocolate spread
Then, there is the following to make last-minute quick desserts:
- packaged pie dough or ready-made pie crusts
- puff pastry dough
Lastly, it’s not a bad idea to keep fun toppings, such as chopped walnuts, raisins, and the oh-so-important container of sprinkles.
Easy Mock Apple Pie
Simple to make, apple pie, but without apples!
Ingredients
- 9” ready-made pie shell + additional pie dough to create lattice or a cover for the pie *
- 4 ounces buttery crackers, crushed (+ 1 cup crushed buttery crackers, optional - see Instructions)
- 2 cups sugar (or 1 1/2 white + 1/2 brown)
- 3 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Pour water, sugar, and cream of tartar into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat to medium and add the crackers.
- Mix occasionally until the crackers have melted into the sugar mixture.
- Pour mixture into the pie shell.
- Cover with lattice or layer of pie dough or the extra 1 cup of crushed crackers.
- Sprinkle dough with granulated white sugar (not shown in photo).
- Protect the sides of the pie with a piece of foil to prevent from cooking sooner than the rest.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350°F until the top has slighly browned and is solid to the touch (approximately 40 minutes).
- Let cool.
Notes
* The top of the pie can be lattice or a sheet of pie dough (make slits in the top for the air to escape) or just cracker crumbs, as desired.
USE DAIRY FREE DOUGH AND CRACKERS AND YOU HAVE A VEGAN PIE!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 526Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 360mgCarbohydrates: 88gFiber: 3gSugar: 50gProtein: 4g