My husband has been asking for sweets. I don’t really know how to make sweets. This is step one in my journey. One of the reasons I am not a great baker is bacause I substutute all the time when I don’t have an ingredient called for in a recipe. Case in point: this walnut, sour cream, maple syrup filling is supposed to be pecan, corn syrup, and 35% B.F. cream :-)

Does not look half bad eh?

 

Adapted from the recipe for Caramel Pecan Tart in The Chez Piggy Cookbook:

Crust:

  • 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 5 tbsp sugar
  • 2 large or three small egg yolks (I used the left over egg whites to make a quick egg white, ham and parmesan fritatta for my husband before he had to rush out the door for a music gig this MLK day morning).

Filling:

  • 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup local MN maple syrup
  • 2 cups walnuts, pounded and toasted lightly in a pan
  • 3 tbsp light sour cream

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Line the botttom of a 9 inch pie pan with parchment paper (I used tin foil and it was fine except it was hard to slide out onto a plate at the end and no one wants to end up eating bits of tin foil.)

2) Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingers,cut butter into flour and suger to form pea-size chunks. Add egg yolks and mix until pastry starts to cling together. Press into the bottom and sides of the prepared pan. Press crust with a fork, and bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

3) To make filling, combine brown sugar, butter and maple syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and mix in walnuts and sour cream.

4) Pour filling into pie crust and bake at 375 for 12 minutes. let cool before cutting.