Walnut Pie Crust | No Rolling, Just a Spoon

You can make pie too.  Make a summer pie for family and friends with a  walnut pie crust entirely from scratch.  No dough rolling and no flour or fat is involved with a nut and meringue crust you spread with a spoon into the pie plate and bake for ten minutes.  

walnut pie crust

175 grams ( 1 1/2 cups) walnuts

1 egg white

1/4 tsp salt, Celtic Sea Salt preferable

4 Tbsp powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. and lightly oil a pie plate.  Use a food processor and grind the nuts until very fine.  Use a manual egg beater or an electric hand mixer to beat the egg white and salt until stiff.  Beat in the powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Gently fold in the chopped walnuts and pour into the pie plate.  Using a wet spoon, spread the nut meringue up the sides of the pie plate and evenly over the bottom.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Cool and fill. Read on for some ideas.

The Walnut Pie Crust holds nicely. The edges are imperfectly shaped, but golden and delicious. I love the Wabi-Sabi nature of this pie.

Fill the cooled walnut pie crust with layers of softened ice cream, perhaps a coconut milk chocolate peanut butter swirl flavor or an almond milk fudge.  Cover with foil and freeze until firm.  

Or make a simple fruit filling with 4 cups of summer fruit like blueberries.  Simply cook 1 cup fruit in 1/2 cup sugar for about 5 minutes, until a nice juice forms and starts to boil.  Stir together 3 tablespoons arrowroot starch* and 3 tablespoons water in a little bowl and stir this into the cooked fruit.  Continue to cook and stir a couple more minutes until thickened.  Remove from the heat and stir in 3 cups fruit and add some flavoring like a sprinkling of cinnamon, a squeeze of lemon and a little vanilla extract.  Bake at 350 degrees F. until bubbly, about 15 - 20 minutes.  *Arrowroot is listed in the SimplyCooking® Pantry rather than cornstarch, for reasons including a cleaner flavor when mixed with fruit.    Pie is a wonderous food;  so gourmet yet best when it's allowed to take on in its inherently wabi-sabi aesthetic, that is, of being imperfect, simple, economic and modest.   And how creative you can be, once the crust is simplified?