I love apple pies, but sometimes I get bored by the typical cinnamon-flavored pie, so when I saw a recipe for Lemon Apple Pie in a hundred-year-old cookbook, I decided to give it a try.
The pie was delightful – and nothing like any apple pie I’ve ever had before. Chopped apples are smothered in a tart lemony sauce.
Here’s the original recipe:
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Lemon Apple Pie
2 cups chopped apples
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 egg beaten
juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
1/2 cup saltine crackers (about 12 crackers), rolled fine (I put the crackers in a plastic bag and crushed with a rolling pin.)
milk, sugar
pastry for a 2-crust, 9-inch pie
Heat oven to 425° F. Put the sugar, water, egg, lemon juice, and lemon rind in a bowl; stir to combine. Add the crushed saltine crackers and chopped apples, stir. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan. Cover with top crust and flute edges. Brush crust with a small amount of milk; sprinkle with sugar. Bake in oven for 10 minutes; then reduce heat to 350° F. Bake an additional 20 to 30 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and juice just begins to bubble.
A Hundred Years Ago 
The apple pie sounds marvelous.
It is very tasty.
I love apple pie and I love lemon; this goes on the must-try list!
I think that you’ll like it. Lemon is the predominant flavor.
The saltine crackers seem like an unusual addition. Are they a thickener?
Yes, my question, too!
Yes, they are a thickener. The primary ingredient in saltines is flour, so I think they are a substitute for flour.
Oh, it is nice to learn something new.
It also reminded me of the Ritz cracker “Mock Apple Pie” made during the Great Depression. My grandmother helped me make one, and it certainly had an ‘apple-like’ flavor. Since these were crushed, that would render them in the thickener range, but still, it was an interesting connotation.
It’s fascinating how they used crackers as a substitute for apples. I’ve heard of mock apple pie, but don’t think that I’ve ever had it.
I’m guessing saltine crackers are what we call Jacob’s crackers. That seems an unusual thickener. Do you think a spoonful of cornflour would work just as well? Yes, lemon and apple sounds good.
It does seem unusual – though the crackers are made primarily of flour, so they probably are a substittue for it. Cornflour (Corn starch in the U.S.) probably could be substituted – though I have no idea how much would be needed.
Worth a try! I’m thinking a rounded teaspoon.
I’m thinking it might be more. The recipe called for adding 1/2 cup of water to the pie filling. This made quite a bit of liquid, so it probably would take quite a bit of corn starch to thicken.
I’ll have to try it, won’t I, and see what works!
Sounds very tasty!! I’ll have to give it a try – I’m putting a lemon on the grocery list!
I think that you’ll like this pie.
I agree that apple pie can be boring! This recipe will be a must try for me! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome. I think that you’ll enjoy it.
I’ve never heard of a pie like this one, but I do like apples and lemon so why not?
Until I saw this recipe, I also had never seen this combination – but apples and lemon make a nice combination.
wow………I have never heard of this combination but it sure sounds yummy!
It’s tasty.
🙂 thanks again Sheryl!
I first discovered how nicely lemons go with apples by means of a bread pudding recipe that included apples and lemon zest. Since then I went through a phase of putting lemon zest in my stewed apples before I smothered them with custard…. or was it the other way around? Maybe I put the lemon zest in the custard? In any case, it was lovely, and I wanted to do it again this year.
But I’d never seen an apple pie with lemon, and I want to try this! Thank you.
The bread pudding with apples and lemon zest sounds tasty. I think that you’ll like this recipe.
Intriguing. I’m trying to imagine it. Will definitely have to give it a try.
This recipe makes a nice pie. I think that you’d like it.
If it says apple then am sure it’s good,as I love apples in things.. nice looking slice of pie.
It’s tasty – though lemon definitely is the predominant flavor. When I made the pie, I was surprised how little I tasted the apple flavor.
I also thought immediately of that Ritz Cracker red box with its recipe for Mock Apple Pie. I never made it but always wondered how it tasted.
I’m also curious about what a mock apple pie would taste like. Someday I made have to make one. 🙂
Let me know.
If you ever decide to blog about mock apple pies, I’d sure be curious to read that post!
This sounds delicious. And your crust in the photo looks crispy and tasty.
The crust turned out well – though I didn’t use a hundred-year-old recipe for it. I used my go-to pie pastry recipe – the one in the Betty Crocker Cookbook that I got at my bridal shower years ago.
I have that cookbook too.
This looks great, I just made an apple cake but next time I’ll try this pie. Do you know I cannot “Like” your posts via my emails? I always want to but it will not take it!
The pie is tasty. It’s strange how you can’t “like” my posts. Can you “like” posts that you get by email for other blogs? I’ll have to look at my blog settings and see if I can figure out how to fix this issue.
Yes, I’m able to Like most others that are mailed! Very odd, hope you can fix!
hmm. . . I not sure exactly how to fix this. I went to the WordPress support page on likes and hoped to find out what I needed to change:
https://wordpress.com/support/likes/#turn-likes-on-off-across-your-site
On that page it says:
“When you make a change to whether Likes show or not, this applies to new posts only. In addition, the Like button will still appear in readers’ toolbars and in the WordPress.com reader. It will also show in notification emails (for sites without plugins only.)”
Maybe that explains why you can’t do likes – though I still haven’t figured out how to change the needed settings.
I love apple pie and lemon adds a nice touch.
It’s yummy.
Mouth watering and a lil puckering going on!