When I was younger, the trees blanketed the neighborhood with shade in the blazing hot valley summers, and in the fall, all of us kids spent weekends picking walnuts. We harvested 500 pounds of walnuts a year, just from our five trees. These days the trees are getting old, two of them are already gone and the other three are just hanging in there, not really producing much.
An Excess of Walnuts Leads to a New Pie
Still, we have a special affinity for walnuts. Growing up, pretty much any recipe calling for pecans we would just substitute walnuts. Which is how I first started making walnut pie.
Like Pecan Pie, but With Walnuts and Maple
At its simplest, it’s just a pecan pie for which you swap out the pecans for walnuts. But walnuts can be a little more bitter than pecans, so for this particular version, I’ve decided to use a dark maple syrup instead of the more commonly used corn syrup. The sweet maple flavor helps to balance whatever bitter edge the walnuts may have. Like our pecan pie, this walnut maple pie is not overly sweet. I’m quite pleased with it (my parents both call it a winner!) and hope you will be too. This dense, sweet pie also freezes well. Bake as directed, allow to cool completely, wrap in a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil, and freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. After about 20 minutes (about halfway through the baking), you may want to tent the pie crust edges with foil, or use a pie protector, so that the edges don’t get burnt.
