I know what you’re thinking.  Apples in summer?  Or maybe you’re thinking, are apples the only thing this girl writes about?  Even though apple pie seems to go hand in hand with all-American events like the Fourth of July, the bounty of apple season is still a few months away.

Around here though, there have been some early arrivals.  I was surprised to find a bag of apples in my C.S.A. delivery last week, but the folks handing out the delivery said they were an early season variety.  Now, I’ve started to see more apples popping up on local market notices and even on a tree down the street!  Hooray for local apples in June!

They were tiny little guys, super tart, and not great out of hand snacking apples.  But they certainly made a truly delicious apple pie.  I decided on a classic apple pie in honor of Father’s Day since it is one of my dad’s favorite desserts.  He approved.

I tried a new pie crust recipe, and while I really loved the texture, I need to tinker with the fine details of recipe.  In the meantime, here’s the recipe for the great filling.  It was so delicious, that you may just start seeing more apple recipes and this site may become Sunflour Apples and Apples.  We’ll see.

Apple Pie Filling

(adapted from Baking Illustrated)

• Approximately 3 lbs of early-season apples (very tart)
• 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
• 5 1/4 oz plus 1 Tbs. sugar
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp salt

1.  Peel and core apples.  Cut them into bite-sized chunks.

2.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.

3.  Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the apples and toss to combine.

4.  Prepare as a two crust pie.  Brush on egg white on top of the pie and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

5.  Bake at 425 degrees until the top crust is golden, about 25 minutes.  Reduce the temperature to 375 and bake until the filling goodness bubbles and the crust is beautifully browned, about 30 minutes longer.

6.  Let the pie cool as long as you can (try to make it a few hours), cut, and enjoy!