Fall in New England  is synonymous with apples. It can’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that 99.9% of us must, in this moment, have some type of apple, in some form, in our kitchen. Collectively, we consume: apple cider, baked apples, cinnamon apples, apple bread, apple muffins, apple crumb cake, apples in oatmeal, apple in salads, apple in stuffing, apple with squash, apple gracing pork, apples…in everything! But nothing says fall — to me, anyway — more than apples in a warm, homemade pie.

That was why I was so excited to come across the Apple Pielettes from How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Swiss Chard. What better way to get a quick apple pie fix, and sample early season apples, than these mini pies?

I followed the ‘easy as pie’ recipe two nights ago. I appreciated the apple pie experience — the smells, the tastes, the cute little lattice tops — without the more involved apple pie steps (those who pre-bake their apples for a better fit under a lattice crust will especially feel me on this). I didn’t make any changes to the straight forward recipe, though I did bake my pielettes a little longer than recommended since I like my crusts a little on the crispy side and my apple filling a bit more syrupy.

When I handed over the results to my taste testers, their first responses echoed Nita Nee’s gush on her blog: “These ‘pielettes’ are just  SO. DARN. CUTE.” Not only are they perfectly sized for a ‘I’m-going-to-pretend-this-never-happened’ snack, but they’ll get you geared up and excited for a season full of freshly baked apple pies — the big kind.

My own pielettes (photo: Elizabeth Hathaway)