This high altitude walnut pie starts with a buttery shortbread crust, filled with sweet and nutty cardamom walnut filling, and topped with coffee whipped cream. Perfect for your Thanksgiving dessert menu!
You might also love these recipes for pear frangipane tart, cherry cranberry pie, and sweet potato pecan crumble pie.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Perfect for the Holidays. Pecan pie is always a classic choice for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but walnut pie is a really nice alternative. The filling is sweet and sticky but not overly gooey, and the hint of cardamom adds a wonderful warm flavor. Instead of a pastry crust, this recipe uses an easy press-in-the-pan shortbread crust that’s buttery and cookie-like.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Butter. You’ll be using melted butter in both the crust and the filling, which makes things so easy. No rolling out of pie dough!
- All Purpose Flour.
- Dark Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar.
- Golden Syrup. If you can get some golden syrup (which you can find at World Market), I’d encourage you to try it. Otherwise, light corn syrup also works well.
- Salt.
- Eggs.
- Vanilla Extract.
- Ground Cardamom.
- Walnuts.
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Set a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom on a baking sheet. Lightly spray the bottom and sides of the pan with non-stick baking spray. I also recommend lining the bottom of the tart pan with a circle of parchment paper, to help prevent the bottom crust from sticking to the pan. It’s easiest to bake this pie with the tart pan sitting on a baking sheet, both for easier transferring in and out of the oven, as well as to catch any drips or leaks, since a small amount of butter may leak out of the crust as it bakes.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter. Continue to cook the butter over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until nutty, golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan. You’ll know the butter is ready when it stops spattering as the water evaporates, and a layer of foam forms on top of the butter.
- Immediately scrape the browned butter into a bowl. Add the flour, sugar and salt, and stir together until moist and crumbly.
- Dump the dough crumbs into the tart pan. Firmly press the crumbs into an even layer against the bottom and all the way up the sides of the pan. I find it easiest to do the sides first, then press what’s left against the bottom. Then I like to use a small offset spatula to make it smooth and even. You want to be sure there are no holes or thin areas in the crust; if the filling leaks through any holes, it can cause the crust to stick to the pan.
- Bake the crust at 375 F for 15 minutes, until pale golden brown. Set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes, until no longer hot.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325 F.
Walnut Filling
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, eggs, vanilla, salt, cardamom, and flour, until smooth.
- Add the chopped walnuts and stir them in.
Assembly and Bake
- After the crust has cooled, stir up the walnut filling again and pour it into the crust.
- Carefully set the pan in the oven on the center oven rack. Bake the pie at 325 F for about 40-45 minutes, until the filling is set, but still has a slight wobble when you shake the pan.
- Set the pie on a cooling rack to cool completely, at least 4 hours. This walnut pie keeps wonderfully, so you can even bake it one day in advance and let it cool overnight before serving.
- Before serving, remove the sides of the pan, and cut into slices.
Whipped Cream
- The best whipped cream for a pie is my recipe for stabilized whipped cream.
- For coffee flavored whipped cream, dissolve 1/2 – 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee in the cream, or more if you like a stronger coffee flavor. Add more powdered sugar, if extra sweetness is needed.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover pie in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also freeze the fully baked pie, then set it out to thaw the morning of Thanksgiving to serve that evening.
If you don’t have a tart pan, you can also bake this pie in a 9-inch pie pan.
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High Altitude Walnut Pie
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
Crust
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 5 tbsp granulated sugar
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Walnut Filling
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup golden syrup or light corn syrup
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups walnuts, roughly chopped
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Set a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom on a baking sheet. Lightly spray the bottom and sides of the pan with non-stick baking spray. I also recommend lining the bottom of the tart pan with a circle of parchment paper, to help prevent the bottom crust from sticking to the pan. It's easiest to bake this pie with the tart pan sitting on a baking sheet, both for easier transferring in and out of the oven, as well as to catch any drips or leaks, since a small amount of butter may leak out of the crust as it bakes.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter. Continue to cook the butter over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until nutty, golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan. You'll know the butter is ready when it stops spattering as the water evaporates, and a layer of foam forms on top of the butter.
- Immediately scrape the browned butter into a bowl. Add the flour, sugar and salt, and stir together until moist and crumbly.
- Dump the dough crumbs into the tart pan. Firmly press the crumbs into an even layer against the bottom and all the way up the sides of the pan. I find it easiest to do the sides first, then press what's left against the bottom. Then I like to use a small offset spatula to make it smooth and even. You want to be sure there are no holes or thin areas in the crust; if the filling leaks through any holes, it can cause the crust to stick to the pan.
- Bake the crust at 375 F for 15 minutes, until pale golden brown. Set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes, until no longer hot.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325 F.
Walnut Filling
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, eggs, vanilla, salt, cardamom, and flour, until smooth.
- Add the chopped walnuts and stir them in.
Assembly and Bake
- After the crust has cooled, stir up the walnut filling again and pour it into the crust.
- Carefully set the pan in the oven on the center oven rack. Bake the pie at 325 F for about 40-45 minutes, until the filling is set, but still has a slight wobble when you shake the pan.
- Set the pie on a cooling rack to cool completely, at least 4 hours. This walnut pie keeps wonderfully, so you can even bake it one day in advance and let it cool overnight before serving.
- Before serving, remove the sides of the pan, and cut into slices.
Whipped Cream
- The best whipped cream for a pie is my recipe for stabilized whipped cream.
- For coffee flavored whipped cream, dissolve 1/2 – 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee in the cream, or more if you like a stronger coffee flavor. Add more powdered sugar, if extra sweetness is needed.
Notes
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/
I’m wondering if this could be made as a maple walnut pie (Canadian here), by using maple syrup in place of the golden syrup, or partially so. What do you think?
Unfortunately, no, pure maple syrup doesn’t work as well as the golden syrup or corn syrup when I’ve tested it in this particular recipe. I do, however, have a recipe for a maple pecan tart that uses maple syrup, and you can make that with walnuts instead of the pecans:
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/maple-pecan-tart-pie/
I used a mix of molasses, maple syrup, and corn syrup to equal her golden syrup direction and had a good outcome.