Artist of the Week: Baking with Jacob

Jacob, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Jacob is this week's artist for his little foray in baking.

I can't believe my boy is finishing up his junior year of high school. He is looking at various colleges and universities with an eye towards architecture. He has grown a lot this year, but he is still the same goofy boy. He is starting to take more of an interest in how food appears on the table, but he is still a ways off in regards to cooking for the family. He'll get there, apart from cookies and cakes, I really didn't start cooking until junior year in college.

Anyhoodle, as I said the school year is winding down and as a result the assignments are getting rather... unique.

mock apple pie, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Monday he had an extra credit project for chemistry, to bake a "chemical apple pie." He started to tell me how there are no apples when I blurted out"Oh it's a mock apple pie and you use crackers."

Bingo.

I have never had nor baked one, but I have always been intrigued by the whole idea of a mock apple pie. This assignment should be very interesting. Pies, apart from the crust, are pretty easy to make and make for a good first time baking project. Jacob was to make the whole thing, all I could do was provide the materials and maybe coach a bit from the sidelines.

sliced mock apple pie, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Here is the recipe he brought home from school:

"Chemical Apple Pie"
Materials needed:
1.5 quart saucepan
3 cups water
1.5 cups sugar
1.5 tsp cream of tartar
25 Ritz crackers
pastry for two pie crust (store bought is fine)
cinnamon
butter
pie plare

Procedure:
1.) Bring the 3 cups of water to a boil in the sauce pan.
2.) Mix the sugar with the cream of tartar and add this to the boiling water.
3.) Add 25 whole Ritz crackers, one at a ti8me, to the water.
 Do Not Stir
4.) Boil for 3 minutes but do nor stir.
5.) Pour this mixture into a pastry lined pie pan.
6.) Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and dot lightly with butter.
7.) Cover with the pastry top and pierce several times to allow steam to escape.
8.) Bake at 450 F for 30 minutes or until done.
9.) Allow to cool and taste for quality.

Pretty easy and not an apple in sight. I taught Jacob how to make pie crust, the main points being cold butter and handle it as little as possible. He did a great job rolling out the dough and assembling the pie. The only deviation was a dash of ground ginger to liven things up.

As for the pie itself, it actually worked. It's not the best pie in the world, but it looks and smells like a proper apple pie.