Walnut Pie Jump to Recipe
Today we bring you a three for one! We have to share with you our family recipe for Walnut Pie as well as our favorite Cherry Pie and Pie Crust recipes! I just adore the holiday season. I love seeing the family all together and all of the great food and drinks all day long! It is truly a time a of great indulgence and I am all for it. I hope these recipes help you enjoy your season even more by providing tasty recipes and helpful hints. Enjoy! 
Pie Crust
Our favorite recipe for pie crust comes from Better Homes and Gardens, we have thought about attempting to create our own but honestly at the end of the day why mess with perfection. This may not be an original recipe to our site, but we do have some fantastic tips that will make Pie Crust making a little less stressful!
This pie crust recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup shortening or lard
- 6 or 7 tbsp ice cold water
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Stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening or lard with pastry cutter till pieces are the size of small peas. Sprinkle 6 tbsp water over the mixture, gently toss with fork, will need to mix with hands at the end. Add additional tbsp of water if needed. Form dough into ball, divide in half. On lightly floured surface flatten one half of dough with hands. Roll dough from center to edge into desired size circle
Helpful pie making tips!!
Crust Rolling
I like to roll my crust out on two sheets of plastic wrap. I wet my hands with water, wipe it across my counter top, then i smooth two sheets of plastic wrap on the wetted countertop. Do not use too much water, just enough to wet the surface but not pooling water at all. Overlap the two sheets so there is a large enough area to roll out the pie crust on. The water makes the plastic wrap adhere to the counter so you can roll the dough out and the plastic wrap won't move. You do not need to add flour to the plastic wrap to roll out the dough, just flour the rolling pin so your dough won't stick. When the dough is rolled out to a large enough size, you can pick the plastic wrap up with the dough still lightly sticking to it and place it over the pie pan. Then you can easily peel the plastic wrap off and have a perfectly rolled out and placed pie crust. You may need to use a little extra water to reuse the plastic for the second crust.
Two crust pie:
My second tip is how I seal my the top and bottom crusts together. Trim the bottom crust to just the edge/size of the pie pan. The top crust should be rolled out about an inch larger in diameter than the bottom crust. Fold the extra top crust around the bottom crust. Once the top crust is folder over the bottom crust, I pinch the two crusts between my thumb and forefinger turning the crust in a circle until I reach the beginning. See pics for cherry pie finished look.
Single crust pie:
For a one crust pie such as the Walnut pie I make the crust about an inch larger in diameter than the pie pan. Fold the extra under itself to double the crust on the edge. I then use the same method of pinching the crust between my thumb and forefinger and turn the crust in a circle until I reach the beginning. See pic of Walnut pie for finished look.
Cherry Pie
Cherry Pie is actually my personal favorite. I have always loved the tartness that this pie has as opposed to to sweetness of many others. Tart is generally the way that I will always lean as opposed to syruppy sweet. Now don’t get me wrong I love sweet as much as the next person but I will always prefer a bit of sour to any sweet dish.
Again this recipe is not an original to our site, but we figured since its the holidays we should give thanks to all of the great bakers out there and feature a couple of our favorites regardless. We made a few very small tweaks to the original recipe (such as less starch, sugar, and no food coloring) however, the base recipe is all theirs! At P.O.G we like our pies to be a little more tart than sweet, so the adaptations run along that line of thought.
This recipe is adapted from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook
- 2 16 ounce cans pitted tart red cherries water pack
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 2 tbsp milk or beaten egg
- 1/4 cup sugar
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Drain cherries and reserve liquid. In sauce pan, combine cherry liquid, sugar, and corn starch. Cook over medium low heat stirring continually. Cook until thickened and bubbly. Cook 1 minute more. Stir in cherries, butter and almond extract. Pour into bottom or unbaked pie crust. Top with second crust, brush top crust with milk or egg wash, sprinkle additional 1/4 cup sugar on top. Cut several slits in top. Bake in 375 oven for 45-50 minutes
Walnut Pie
Last but certainly not least is our family recipe for Walnut Pie. This is a Pot of Gold spin off of the traditional Pecan Pie. What is better about our changes is that our pie isn’t overly sweet like Pecan Pie is. As far as nuts go Pecans are way sweeter than Walnuts. So our changes to make this pie the perfect balance of savory and sweet!
A twist on traditional pecan pie
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup sugar
- dash salt
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 1 cup walnut pieces
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In mixing bowl beat eggs. Add sugar, salt, corn syrup and mix. Add melted butter and mix. Stir in walnut pieces. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell. Bake in 350 over for 50 minutes. Cool completely.Pie is best served chilled, in my opinion, and topped with whipped cream.
When I was young I was always fascinated by my mom making pies. The whole ritual of rolling out the dough and her specific but simple way of making the edge decorations. I found it so intimidating but now we share this skill you all of you and we are happy to do so. Even though I am now at the point where I am able to make these recipes too I still prefer to watch my mom do it. The comforting tradition and mysticism is still there. 
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, I hope this makes your holidays a little less stressful so that you can focus on more important things like the family. Comment your favorite holiday desserts, like if this helps you this season, and remember to share so your loved ones have all the secrets because good friends share good food.
Yours, Pot of Gold.
Course: Dessert
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