Odd question: My teenager wants to make "Mock Apple Pie" for her grandparents when she visits them. The recipe calls for a lemon-flavored sugar syrup that includes 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. The syrup is boiled and then cooled completely before assembling the pie. Can I prepare the syrup at home and have her take it and use it 1 to 2 days later when she makes the pie at their house? I don't know if the cream of tartar means it must be used quickly. Odd question, I know, but their kitchen is not particularly well stocked, and my daughter is not yet a great cook. Having the syrup pre-made would significantly simplify preparation. Kraft customer service knows nothing and you can't talk to anyone in the kitchens.

 Brava for your daughter! Her grandparents will be thrilled (and if they're not, let us know, and we'll talk some sense into them!)

Cream of tarter (something about which we get questions every single day) has nothing to do with cream and is not a perishable dairy product. It is a powder, so smooth that it seems creamy. It is added to the recipe to keep the sugar from crystallizing as the syrup cools. You or your daughter absolutely can make the syrup in advance. Just make sure she has a secure way to get it to the grandparents' house without leaking.

For those who don't know, Mock Apple Pie was developed during World War II when apples were scarce and too expensive for most families. The recipe for MAP, which uses a filling based on Ritz crackers, was developed to fill the void and retains amazing popularity.

Now, now, we have talked to people in customer service at Kraft, and have found them to be well-informed and responsive in the past (it's the Kraft Web site that drives us mad). Maybe they're tired of talking about MAP. If that is the case, here is the original recipe. We hope it will not generate any additional questions.

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