Friday Pie-Day: Maple Orange Walnut Pie

Get ready for the upgrade on pecan pie! This pie reminded us so much of that old classic, except even better, if that’s possible.

I found the recipe through a video by Bill Daley, who got it from Ashley English’s book A Year of Pies. I didn’t have the book, and the video wasn’t clear on exact ingredients, so I kinda merged it together with ideas from All Recipes… and it turned out great!

Begin by making the pie crust! I usually use this recipe, but today I made this recipe, which allowed me to combine all the ingredients directly in the pie pan and not have to roll it out.

While you are preparing that, put your walnuts in the oven to get toasted. I ended up not really chopping them, just breaking the full walnuts in half.

The pie filling is pretty easy to make too – start with the dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt).

Add in some eggs.

Pour in the butter and maple syrup. (The maple syrup takes the place of corn syrup in pecan pie recipes, and it’s so much more flavorful!)

By now the batter looks something like this.

Grate in some orange peel. (This is where I wish these pictures had a scratch and sniff option – fresh oranges smell so good!) Also, I ended up just squeezing the juice from half the orange rather than using the orange juice pictured with the ingredients above.

And don’t forget the orange marmalade!

Finally, add the fragrant walnuts, fresh from the oven. Mmmmm!

Once it’s in the pie pan, it gets to bake twice – intensely for 10 minutes, and then to a lesser degree for 30 minutes.

It smelled (and tasted) so good! It was the same principle as pecan pie, but even better, because the maple syrup was so much more flavorful than corn syrup, and also oranges make everything better.

It was also rather simple and quick to prepare, which made this mouth-watering delicacy even better!

Some similar pies I’ve made in the past: pecan pie, lemon pecan pie, orange pie

Maple Walnut Orange Pie 

(recipe from Bill Daley, Ashley English, & All Recipes)

1 pie pastry for 9-inch pie pan

⅓ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

3 eggs

2 T. butter, melted

1½ cups maple syrup

rind of 1 orange (about 2 T.)

3 T. orange juice

2 T. orange marmalade

2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Prepare pie crust in pan and toast walnuts at 350 degrees for 7 minutes.
2. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Add in eggs, butter, maple syrup and stir to combine.
4. Stir in orange rind, orange juice, and orange marmalade.
5. Add toasted walnuts and stir until coated with pie filling.
6. Pour pie filling into prepared pan and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 30 minutes more or until golden and just set.
8. Transfer to rack, let cool, and garnish with orange zest and whipped cream if desired.