That happens on a lot of different fruit trees and is called rogue bloom, among other things. Pinch off the flowers as the fruit won't mature on the tree through winter and the bloom is a place for fire blight and other viruses to enter into the tree.

but why did all of my apples do it? There must be a reason and if I could figure that out maybe I could figure out a way make them bloom / and or leaf out and grow on demand?

Freedom of blooming...

Everything and everyone has freedom for everything so why not apples.

One of my apple in a big pot did the same thing in mid fall this year but soon got hit by -9C and that took care of it.