This pie is a classic that we recently upgraded to be even more sumptuous.
Klik hier voor de Nederlandse versie
We got a version of this recipe many years ago from my dear neighbor. It’s a favorite family recipe from New Zealand and has been for many years. We made this pie on many occasions and each time it was a big hit.
Recently we tweaked it a bit, to make it even more luscious with extra depth of flavor. When eating this pie, remember that walnuts are good for you! And of course it’s perfectly fine to make it with other nuts of choice like pecans or a combination with almonds, pistachios or macadamia.
Enjoy your baking
Ingredients for the walnut pie dough
125 g softened butter
125 g soft light brown sugar (muscovado sugar)
225 g pastry flour
1 egg (2/3 in the dough, 1/3 for egg wash)
1.5 g sea salt
Ingredients for the caramel filling
125 g caster sugar
70 g cream cheese
50 g full fat cream (ours is 35% fat content)
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 g sea salt
125 g chopped walnuts, lightly roasted (or other nuts of choice)
1 tbsp water
Making the pie
Prepare the cream mixture
For the filling, first combine the cream with the cream cheese and set aside.
- Cream
- Cream cheese
Make the caramel
Melt the sugar in a heavy based saucepan on low heat until light brown. Add the tablespoon of water and swirl the pan around to blend it in. Add the cream mixture little by little in the same way, swirling the pan around, rather than stirring (otherwise you might end up with a big lump of sugar that’s hard to dissolve again).
- Sugar
- Water
- Cream mixture
Add maple syrup and walnuts
When you have a caramel consistency, you can add the tablespoon of maple syrup and the salt and stir it in (yes you may stir now). Next add the chopped walnuts and stir them in. You can now set the pan in a shallow bath of cold water and leave the mixture to cool.
- Maple syrup
- Salt
- Walnuts
Make the dough
Make the dough by combining the flour, butter, sugar, salt and 2/3 of the egg. Press into a flat disc, wrap or cover and place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Flour
- Butter
- Sugar
- Salt
- Egg (2/3)
Preheat the oven
Preheat the oven at 180°C / 355°F conventional setting.
Assemble the pie
Fill the greased bottom of a shallow pie dish (approx 22 cm or 9 inches) with 275 grams of the dough and make a rim of about 2 cm. Spread the walnut-caramel evenly in the dish. Role out the rest of the dough (this is about 225 grams of dough) and cover the filling. Brush the pie with the remaining egg.
- Dough
- Walnut-caramel
- Egg (remaining)
Bake the pie
Bake for about 30 minutes until beautiful brown. Leave to cool for a while because caramel can be very hot, but try some while still warm!
Tip
We bake the pie on the top tier of the oven, this works best for us to get both top and bottom baked just right.
Tip
You can also make 6 mini ones (I use 10 cm tartelette molds) and give everybody their own individual pie. Advantage for crust lovers: a little more crust compared to the big pie.
Paul Major says
Would I be correct that oven temperatures given are not fan assisted oven temperatures?
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Paul,
Yes, that is correct, the temperatures are for the conventional setting (heat from above and below). Sorry if this was not clear. I adjusted it in the recipe.
Enjoy your baking!