Pumpkin Pie with Pecan-Walnut Crust: A buttery toasted nut crust alternative to a pastry crust, which adds an extra layer of flavor. Combined with a spicy pumpkin filling it is now our new pumpkin holiday favorite.
A pumpkin pie in a crust with no flour at all? What the what? Yes, it’s true, it’s fabulous, and it’s the tastiest crust I have had for a very long time.
The crust consists of pecans, walnuts, brown sugar, a hint of cinnamon and butter.
When mixed together the crust “dough” will resemble wet sand. It is then simply pressed into a 9 or 10-inch pie plate, baked for 10 minutes, and it’s ready for your favorite custard filling. Today, it is pumpkin!
Click on the link if you want to go straight to the Pecan Walnut Pie Crust recipe and more in depth instructions.
The way to achieve a perfect pumpkin pie that does not crack when cooled is knowing when to get it out of the oven. When there’s about 5 minutes left of baking time the middle of the pie will look ever so slightly wet and will wobble (not runny). That’s about the time I take it out. You can also turn off the oven and crack the door open for heat to escape for about 5 to 10 minutes. If your pie still cracks, plop on some whipped cream or bake a couple of extra pie crust leaves, FIXED!
When your heavenly baked pie emerges from the oven the crust will be sizzling as it is toasting the nuts. So yummy.
Let your pie cool and generously add the whipped topping and maybe a little dusting of cinnamon!
Happy baking Pie Peeps!
Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Walnut Crust
Pumpkin Pie with Pecan-Walnut Crust: A buttery toasted nut crust alternative to a pastry crust, which adds an extra layer of flavor. Combined with a spicy pumpkin filling for a new pumpkin holiday favorite.
8
25
minutes45
minutes1
hour10
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Pumpkin Pie Filling (Makes 1 9 to 10-inch pie)
15 ounces 425.24 g canned pumpkin
1 cup 200 g pure cane sugar
3 3 large eggs
1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup 118.29 ml whole milk or evaporated milk (cashew or almond milk for dairy free)
- Pecan Walnut Crust – makes one 9 or 10-inch nut crust
1-1/4 ย cups 59.15 ml ย pecan pieces*
1-1/4 ย cups 59.15 ml walnut pieces*
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons 4 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons 4 tablespoons butter, softened (not melted)**
Directions
- Pecan Walnut Pie Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Use a food processor or blender to grind the nuts fairly fine. Careful when using blender, it can turn the nuts into "paste" quickly if over processed.
- Add ground nuts to a medium sized bowl and stir in the brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add the softened butter and stir the mixture together, it will come together like wet sand.
- Press the mixture on bottom and sides into a 9-inch or 10-inch pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 F.
- Remove from oven. Let cool completely before adding cream fillings. If baking a custard pie (as in pumpkin) add custard filling and bake as directed below.
- Filling, Assembly & Baking
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- With whisk or electric mixer, mix the pumpkin and spices together. Beat in eggs and milk until thoroughly combined and smooth.
- Pour into prepared nut crust.ย Bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes.
- The last 5 to 7 minutes of baking, turn off oven and crack the oven door open to let heat escape and pie to set (the middle will look ever so slightly wet and will wobble, not runny). This helps the middle of the custard to not crack from over baking.
- Remove from oven and place on counter top to cool. Serve cold with whipped topping!
Notes
- * you may substitute almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, etc.ย
- ** for vegan, use Earth Balance butter spread straight from the tub (sold in refrigerator section with regular butter at grocer).
I replaced the milk with canned coconut milk, the high fat kind for a dairy free version. Worked well
That’s great! I have a family member who needs dairy-free at times, nice going!
Hi! How far in advance can this crust be made?
If it is baked and fully cooled off and then wrapped in plastic wrap, you can make this up to one week ahead of time if stored in the refrigerator.
Absolutely amazing!!!!!โฆโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
Thank You! I think so too!
This sounds incredible! Can I use a flax egg or other sub for egg?
Absolutely! I am a fellow flax seed egg substitute. I am sure you do this, but make sure the flax is super-powdered up, no grit!
First time making a pie of any kind and it came out great! I was worried at first that I had way too much filling and hadn’t made the crust thin enough. But I only had a little extra and I poured it into mini muffin cups and baked those for a bit for an extra treat.
I decreased the sugar to 3/4 cup and it’s still plenty sweet. Would probably decrease more in the future. Used unsweetened soy milk instead of cow milk. No problem.
I was ready to cover the edges of the crust with tin foil at the end to stop it from burning but didn’t have to.
It sounds fabulous!
Good filling and the crust is delicious. The baking time was not long enough for me, and it took close to an hour in the oven; it still had a wobble that firmed up as soon as it cooled. I think I’ve found my Thanksgiving pie recipe.
Thank you for trying it out! I have had ovens that cooked too cool, or too hot, or a hot/cool spot. Sigh. But, the pie is worth the hassle. You sound like a fabulous baker!