Maple Nut Pie

For our Thanksgiving feast this year, we tried something new.  Generally, we have pumpkin pie, apple pie and perhaps pecan pie.  However, with most of our pie pans packed away in anticipation of moving, I had to choose two pie with which to grace our table.  Due to the fact that my pumpkin pie recipe makes three pies, we opted for pear pie and maple nut pie.

As much as we love pecan pie, the allure of maple and walnuts was too much to resist.  We tweaked the recipe a little (I just can't keep my hands off anything!) and the results were divine.

Start with a single 9" pie crust.  My favorite pastry is a buttermilk pie crust.  It makes enough for 3 single crust pies or 1 double crust and 1 single crust pie.

Buttermilk Pie Crust
3 C flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 C shortening (or lard)
1/2 C butter (chilled)
about 1/2 C buttermilk (can use sweet milk with a splash of lemon juice or vinegar)

Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.  Cut in the shortening and butter with a pastry cutter (or your fingers).  Stir in the buttermilk lightly with a fork.  Divide the dough, press gently into disks, wrap and chill.  Roll on lightly floured surface.

Rolling crust onto rolling pin to transfer to the pie pan

The finished crust

Maple Nut Pie
2 C roughly chopped walnuts (or pecans)
2 eggs, beaten
1 C real maple syrup
2 tsp. maple extract (or 1T rum)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 T melted butter
2 T flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a bowl, mix together the beaten eggs, maple syrup, maple extract, vanilla extract, melted butter.  Sprinkle with flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Whisk until smooth.

Spread the chopped walnuts (or pecans) over the bottom of a prepared pie shell.  Pour the maple syrup egg mixture over the walnuts.  Place in the preheated oven on the middle rack.  Place a cookie sheet on the rack underneath to catch any drips.

Bake at 375° for 40 - 45 minutes.  Halfway through the baking time, you may want to tent the pie to prevent over-browning of the crust.

The surface of the pie may crack while cooking - that's fine - it will deflate while cooling.

Pie crust full of walnuts

The maple/egg mixture poured over the walnuts

Oh, so good - especially when slightly warm!  Enjoy.