- There is nothing more American than apple pie.
It is one of the most popular and recognizable deserts
in the world.
Hi, my name is Jordan.
I'm a producer here at Tasty,
and today we're gonna do something a little different.
Recently, while thumbing through our new cookbook,
I found this strange recipe
for something called a mock apple pie.
It contains no apples and uses simple crackers
as a substitute, which begs the question
how can something without apples taste like apple pie?
So today I'm gonna make this recipe
and feed it to a few of my co-workers
and see if they can spot the difference.
(upbeat contemporary music)
I'm gonna start by sifting two cups of flower
with two teaspoons of sugar and one teaspoon of salt.
Then I'm gonna add 10 tablespoons of butter
that I've cubed and chilled.
I chilled the butter beforehand
'cause it's really important to keep this cold.
The heat from my hands should be enough
to allow me to work the butter into the flour.
I'm really just kind of pressing my fingers,
working it together until it forms a nice sandy texture.
I'm gonna add a third of a cup of cold water.
As the water hydrates the flour,
it'll develop a loose, lumpy texture
that'll start to clump together on the fork.
At this point, I'll turn the dough out
and start to bring it together with my hands.
Once the dough's come together into a nice mound,
I'm gonna cut it in half and form each of the halves
into nice round half-inch discs.
And I'm gonna wrap those in cling film
and put them in the fridge for an hour.
While these pie crusts chill in the fridge,
I'm gonna move onto the filling.
To start, we're gonna make a simple syrup solution
out of one and three-quarters cups of sugar
with two teaspoons of cream of tarter added to it.
And to that, we're gonna pour over
one and one-half cups of water.
Once this mixture has come to a boil
and the sugar is fully dissolved,
I'm gonna reduce the heat to low
and let it simmer for about 15 minutes
before taking it off the heat.
Now I'm gonna add the only other flavorings to the syrup,
a half a teaspoon of cinnamon
and the zest and juice of one lemon.
I know you can't smell this right now,
but this combination of lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon
smells exactly like apple pie.
If the pie tastes like this mixture smells,
we are gonna trick a lot of people.
So while it's happening, I'm gonna preheat my oven
and begin to roll out my dough.
It's important to rotate your dough as you roll it out.
This'll help you get a nice round shape
that'll encompass the diameter
of whatever you're baking it in.
We're going for a standard nine-inch pie dish,
so I want my dough to be at least an inch or two larger
than that on all sides.
I'm gonna use the rolling pin to pick it back up
and lay it over the top.
Next, I'm gonna gently use my hands
to press the dough into the bottom of the pie dish.
Now we're onto the fun part.
The recipe calls for two cups, or about four ounces
of coarsely broken buttery crackers.
Now in order to make this work and deceive my co-workers,
I think I need to keep these in pretty large pieces.
If they're too fine, I'm afraid the syrup
will turn them into a thick paste
that won't look anything like an apple pie on the inside.
Once I've broken up all the crackers
and added them to the pie crust,
I'm gonna dot the top with another two tablespoons
of cubed butter as you would any normal apple pie.
Once I have my top crust on,
I'm gonna take that little bit of overhang
and tuck it under itself
while pressing it against the lip of the pie dish.
Next, I'll use a fork to crimp the edge of the dough
all the way around.
As a finishing touch before putting the pie in the oven,
I'm gonna give it a light egg wash
by beating one egg with one tablespoon of water
and brushing it across the surface.
And finally, to make sure the pie doesn't explode
in the oven, I'm gonna cut a small vent in the center
to let the steam escape.
After 35 minutes I was left with this.
From here I can tell you it smells like an apple pie.
It looks like an apple pie.
I am really excited to see what my co-workers think
when they have a slice of this.
(rhythmic upbeat music)
- Okay, so loving this crust, loving the clean cut.
Visually, (clicks tongue) it's on the mark.
- This looks fresh and definitely homemade.
You can see the layers of apple.
They're thinly sliced, which is great.
- Can I smell it first? - Yeah!
- Very suspicious.
(upbeat contemporary music)
- Mm, I like it!
I like that it's not as,
there aren't obvious chunks of apple in it,
'cause that always grosses me out.
(upbeat contemporary music)
- Mm, okay, yeah, it's sweet like you want it.
The apples are perfectly mushy.
- Cheers (laughs)! (upbeat contemporary music)
- Oh, I like this.
- There's definitely, you can taste the cinnamon
and the, I don't know what.
There's other elements of it
that I'm not used to in an apple pie.
- It's good, the flavors are there.
But I would guess you used applesauce or something,
like some kind of a different apple, would be my guess.
Hold on, let me...
- What?
Oh my, no wonder I actually like this one (laughing).
Oh my goodness, now I can kind of see that.
- That's crazy, 'cause the flavor is there.
- So there's no apples in this?
So wait, hold on.
Okay, what?
Okay, hold on, so there's no apples,
but it tastes a little bit like apples.
- These are crackers? - Wait, what?
- I'm so confused. - So we're not--
We're not eating apple pie.
- I actually like this way better than normal apple pie.
But the one thing that now I've realized
is you can see the little ridges of the crackers.
- I have a really good childhood friend
who's allergic to apples and couldn't eat any apple stuff.
I would get this cookbook to give to her
and be, like, here's your taste
(man laughing) of America (laughing).
- I think it compares to apple pie.
It's a pretty good replica.
And I'm not gonna lie, the worst part
about preparing a fruit pie like apple pie
is when you have to get your mandolin
or your slicer and start peeling these apples
and coring them and chopping them up.
So this is a much easier way to pull of an apple pie.
- I feel like I should be, like, oh, weird,
but I wanna keep eating it.
I mean, it looked like a pie, smelled like a pie,
tastes like a pie.
I'm here for it.
- I have been bamboozled, but I'm gonna eat it.
- How dare you!
- I will go on record and say
that I thought this was apples.
But if it's good, it's good.
And if it's delicious, it's delicious.
And it was, so I don't mind being deceived.
- I'm down for this pie.
I'm for it.
I'm team mock.
- If this is what the mock apple pie tastes like,
I can't wait to try the actual apple pie in the cookbook.
And so now I'm super curious.
- This mock apple pie was a huge hit
and a really fun experiment.
Nearly everyone was fooled.
If you wanna try this recipe for yourself,
make sure to check out our newest cookbook, Tasty Ultimate.
It features dozens of never-before-seen recipes,
tips, tricks, and recipe showdowns just like this one.
Get your copy today by clicking the link below.
(upbeat contemporary music)