This recipe is from the SodaMail Recipes in Time! newsletter which is written by Chele who also has her own website, Chele's Treasures <click here>

Chele is a single mother of three young boys who manages to find the time to run her own desktop publishing and personalisation service from her home and also writes the popular SodaMail newsletter Recipes in Time! three days a week.

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A Little Apple Pie History

The origin of most customs and foods in America can be traced to Europe. The same is true of American Apple Pie - it is not really American at all! Fourteenth century English often enjoyed meat pies. Fruits such as apples were substituted in traditional meat pies and served as dessert. Apple pie was a favorite dessert during the reign of Elizabeth I. During the mid 1600s, Oliver Cromwell banned many pleasures throughout the Commonwealth, including pie. Fortunately under the reign of King Charles II in 1660 England enjoyed a more pleasant lifestyle, as the King allowed them many pleasures previously denied by Cromwell, among them pie.

Ingredients

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
25 buttery round crackers
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

• Preheat oven to 450°F (225°C).

• Roll out pastry and set aside.

• Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan.

• In a small bowl mix together sugar and cream of tartar. Add mixture to boiling water.

• Stir, then add crackers, one at a time. Boil for 3 minutes, but do not stir.

• Pour cracker mixture into pastry-lined pie pan.

• Sprinkle crackers with cinnamon and dot with butter or margarine.

• Cover with top pastry. Seal edges and cut steam vents in top.

• Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until crust is golden brown. May need to cover top pastry partway through baking to prevent over browning.

Serves 6

Betcha Didn't Know This!

In Colonial times the taste of a dish was emphasized more than appearance and presentation. Pies were often baked with a 'take-off crust'. The process allowed sugar and spices to be added after the apples had baked in the bottom pastry shell. Sliced apples were arranged in a pastry-lined pie pan. The pie was baked with the top crust loosely placed on top, but not sealed to the under crust. When the pie was done, the top crust was gently lifted off, sugar and spices were added and the top crust replaced before serving. Sometimes the top crust was baked separately from the bottom crust and assembled after both parts were completely cooled.