Apple Pie With No Apples

This recipe is one that my mother, grandmother and great grandmother made. I thought it had been lost when my mother died. Imagine my surprise when I found it written on the inside of her favorite cookbook, which I inherited. I had no idea whether or not it would taste as good as my childhood memories when I made it. It does. One can use either pre-made unbaked pie shells and/or crusts, or homemade. I used a pre-made, unbaked shell and then cut up a premade (boxed) unbaked crust for the lattice top. The extra pie crust I sprinkled with sugar and baked along with the pie. I remember the "pie crust cookies" from my childhood too. This pie has the taste and texture of a real apple pie, and it's a lot of fun to see the expressions when it's revealed that the 'secret ingredient' is Ritz crackers. It's a quick and easy recipe that tastes good.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Yields: 1 pie

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 2  teaspoons cream of tartar
• 20  Ritz crackers (whole)
• 1  prepared  unbaked pie shell
•  nutmeg, to taste
•  cinnamon, to taste
• 5  tablespoons butter
• 1  unbaked pie shell, strips

Directions

1. In a saucepan mix water, sugar and cream of tartar.
2. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
3. Add Ritz crackers.
4. Bring to a hard boil for 2 minutes.
5. DO NOT STIR.
6. Remove from heat and pour into pie crust.
7. Sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon and place butter pats on top.
8. Put pie crust strips on top to form a lattice.
9. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.