I don’t know if this is related, but the french term for potato is literally apples of the ground.
Remember, DrMatrix, you’re talking about a culture that thinks Jerry Lewis is a comedic genius.
The page says the the recipe was popular during WWII, when apples were hard to come by. I guess now it’s just a matter of someone being curious… Or maybe someone has an allergy with apples but still wants to enjoy a good pie?
Pecans tear my stomach up but I still eat pecan pie… Wish someone would create a mock-pecan pie recipe. 
SF
There’s also an urban legend about Kentucky Fried Chicken…that the birds they use were specially breeded so they wouldn’t have beaks…but as I said, it turned out to be just an urban legend.
I wonder if you could substitute the 1/2 c. pecans with pecan flavoring? Anyway, there are fewer in this version.
http://www.ichef.com/golden-recipes/Pies-pastries/15145.html
Magnum: I’m sorry. I didn’t read the recipe closely enough. The pecans just go on top, not in the pie, so it seems like you could just use a few more crackers tossed in some sugar with pecan flavoring. Just trying to help but I feel like I’m drifting off into la-la land…Jeeze.
I remember an experiment in school, 5th or 6th grade. We had to be blindfolded and another student would let us smell an apple, but feed us a slice of potato. I swear, it tasted just like apple.
Well, this was catholic school. 
Peace,
mangeorge