Homer Simpson's Mom's Apple Pie Recipe Is No Joke

Apple pie is one of the ubiquitous recipes that everyone—from your aunt, to your grandmother, to your childhood babysitter, to the neighbor who let you play in her yard—seems to have a variation on. You’ve probably even adapted some combination of Martha Stewart’s and your mom’s apple pie recipes to create your own version by now. One of the last places you’d probably ever expect to find an actually serviceable apple pie recipe, though, is on The Simpsons, but on last night’s episode, that’s exactly what happened: The show revealed Homer Simpson’s mom’s go-to apple pie recipe.

On the episode, titled “Forgive and Regret,” viewers get a peek at Homer’s childhood: Turns out, he and his estranged mother, Mona, would bond while she baked pies. She wrote all of her recipes down on notecards, and if you pause the episode at just the right moment, you can catch a glimpse of exactly what goes into her apple pie (you can find a screenshot on IndieWire if you’re curious.) Mona’s recipe calls for three Granny Smith, three Golden Delicious apples, and three “whatever” you have on hand, as long as they aren’t Macintosh, along with cinnamon, brown sugar, a little salt, and a little flour to thicken the filling. The crust is made by hand, with flour, butter, and cold water with a dash of vinegar added. Mona also bakes the pie at 425 degrees for 20 minutes before lowering the temperature to 350 and letting it cook through for another 40 minutes.

Don’t worry, if you’re looking to recreate Mona’s recipe, you can trust that it actually will taste good: The episode’s credits reveal that the recipe was actually developed not by a room full of comedy writers, but by Evan Kleiman, James Beard Award-winning radio host of the KCRW show Good Food.

By the way, “Forgive and Regret,” marks the 636 episode of The Simpsons, which has a history of featuring celebrity chefs, and given Homer’s voracious appetite, has had its fair share of food-centric episodes, including one recent episode which finds Homer embarking on a food tour of New Orleans.

If you need more inspiration for your next pie baking enterprise, you could always try the Food & Wine recipe for an old-fashioned apple pie, which, like Mona’s version, calls for Golden Delicious (or Pink Lady) apples. Better yet, use these recipes as a template for your own take on apple pie that you can make with your children and loved ones, and create memories just like Homer’s.