Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie
Welcome to MACADAMIA NUT MONTH! Why is this Macadamia Nut Month? Because next month on the 23rd, the final book in my Blood of Earth trilogy comes out! Hawaii is a major setting in Roar of Sky, and I did a research trip to Oahu and the Big Island last year. That included a stay at a lovely bed & breakfast on a macadamia nut farm near Kona. I’ve loved macadamia nuts my entire life, but there’s nothing like cracking through those double layers of shell to eat a macadamia nut fresh off the tree.
If you love macadamia nuts as well, get ready to bliss out. This month you’ll get recipes for:
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie (today)
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Lemony Macadamia Nut Bars
Mini Fruit Cake Loaves to make now for the holidays (macadamia nuts optional)
Macadamia Nut Pie. This pie is unquestionably decadent, but it is so very worth it.
I looked at about five recipes to formulate my own original take on this recipe. I confess, I was pretty nervous about this experiment.
After all, I didn’t want to waste these delicious nuts, even if I did buy two big bags at a good price from the Kona Costco during my novel research trip. Not like I can fly back there to stockpile nuts again soon (alas).
For years now, I’ve loved white chocolate macadamia nut cookies–hence I am featuring that recipe again next week. To me, that pairing of chocolate and nuts is sheer perfection. I just wasn’t sure how it would translate to pie.
The results genuinely surprised me.
That’s because the white chocolate melded with the corn syrup and brown sugar during the baking process, creating a kind of smooth caramel sauce.
Caramel and macadamia nuts is an awfully good pairing, too. But a very sweet one. This pie necessitated the purchase of a tub of vanilla ice cream.
I then served the pie to my husband with ice cream on the side, and I spooned caramel from the pie plate over both. Oh yeah.
You won’t need big slices of this pie. It’s just too rich. The good news is, it keeps well in the fridge for up to a week.
Come back next week for one of my favorite cookie recipes, and please preorder Roar of Sky!
Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie
Ingredients
- 1 deep dish pie crust 9-inch unbaked, homemade or store-bought
Filling:
- 2/3 cup white chocolate chips
- 2 cups macadamia nuts raw, coarsely chopped
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Place a cookie sheet in the oven to heat up as well; this will help prevent a soggy bottom on the crust.
- Place white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts in the unbaked pie crust, and place it in the fridge to chill.
- In a mixing bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, then add the corn syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Pour the filling over the white chocolate and macadamia nuts. Cover the pie crust edges with foil.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 400-degrees. Remove the foil.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350-degrees and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is lightly brown and the filling is set. Cool to room temperature before cutting.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: No Bake Chocolate Peppermint Pudding Pie
If you need a dessert that is no bake and no fuss, here’s a pie recipe to come to the rescue: No Bake Chocolate Peppermint Pudding Pie!
This is chocolatey. Minty. Smooth. All the things.
The filling works with either graham cracker or Oreo crusts. You can’t go wrong with either, honestly.
There is something liberating about a good no-bake pie at this time of year. Oven space is at a premium–as is time. This pie comes together in about 15 minutes or so, depending on the speed of your burners.
Bready or Not Original: No Bake Chocolate Peppermint Pudding Pie
Ingredients
- 1 graham cracker crust or Oreo pie crust
- 2 boxes chocolate fudge pudding (NOT instant) or other chocolate pudding; 1.3-ounce
- 3 Tb cocoa powder sifted
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 1 Tb vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- 1 Tb butter
- 4 ounces Cool Whip about half small container
- crushed peppermints optional
Instructions
- Set out the crust so that it's ready.
- In a large saucepan at low heat, whisk together the two packs of chocolate pudding along with the cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and both extracts. Stir until it becomes smooth and thick, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and add the pat of butter, whisking until the pudding is silky. Pour everything into the pie crust.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes, then place it in fridge to set overnight (or place in freezer for a few hours, then set in fridge to thaw a few hours more).
- Cover the top with Cool Whip. Adorn individual pieces with peppermint bits, if desired.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: No-Bake Maple Pecan Pie
I am never baking a pecan pie again. This will be my go-to recipe forever more: No-Bake Maple Pecan Pie.
Depending on how fast your stovetop heats up, you may have your pie assembled in 15 to 20 minutes without ever having to heat up the oven.
No worries about making a crust or pre-baking a crust or any of that. Every time I’ve made this, I’ve used a graham cracker crust from Wal-mart. You could make a from-scratch graham crust if you want, but I’m all about making this pie as quickly and conveniently as possible.
The way the filling solidifies once chilled is kind of amazing. It’s easy to cut but stays intact, with the exception of some graham cracker crumbles. My husband was able to cut slices and wrap them in plastic wrap to take with his lunch to work, then eat the pieces right out of hand. No need for a fork.
This is the perfect holiday pie, to my way of thinking. It dirties almost no dishes. It doesn’t use the oven. It keeps perfectly well, tucked in the fridge.
Oh yeah, and it’s DELICIOUS. Sweet, slightly-crunchy, and decadent, just as a pecan pie should be.
Modified from Southern Plate.
Bready or Not: No-Bake Maple Pecan Pie
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup brown sugar light or dark, packed
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup honey
- 3 Tablespoons milk or cream or half & half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups whole pecans
- 1 graham cracker crust homemade or store-bought
Instructions
- Place the brown sugar, butter, maple syrup, and honey in a medium-sized pot. Set the heat to medium high and stir constantly as it comes to a boil.
- Once it's boiling, add the pecans and milk/cream. Reduce to a low boil and keep it there for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract.
- Pour everything into the graham cracker crust. Let cool on counter to set. Cover and place in fridge to completely chill for several hours before cutting.
- Keep pie stored in fridge. Pie keeps well for at least a week.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bonus Bready or Not: Dried Apple Pie Feature at Unbound Worlds
Just in time for this week’s holidays (Independence Day! And heck, Canada Day, too!) I’m sharing a special recipe over at Unbound Worlds. I combined a bunch of 19th-century recipes to create my own recipe for Dried Apple Pie. A century ago, that was the handiest way to make apple pie all year-round no matter where you lived. This is how my character Ingrid Carmichael learned to make apple pie from her mother.
It’s actually a pretty simple recipe, too–all you have to do is re-hydrate the apples in some apple cider or juice! You’re spared the pain of peeling the apples, too. Check out the recipe and post at Unbound Worlds.
#SFWAPro
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Pi Day! Celebrate with Bready or Not
It’s March 14th and that means it’s PI DAY (3.14). Therefore, it’s only right to celebrate by making and eating some pie, right? I have a whole subcategory of pie recipes in Bready or Not, but let’s highlight some favorites.
Maple Pecan Pie Bars
Maple Apple Pie
Snickerdoodle Pie
Peppermint Brownie Pie
No-Bake Cookies and Cream Chocolate Pie
No-Bake Triple Layer Lemon Pudding Pie
Om nom nom! #SFWAPro
Read MoreBready or Not: Maple Pecan Pie Bars
These Maple Pecan Pie Bars offer all the goodness of pecan pie in a form that is 1) more readily portable, 2) keeps well for up to a week, 3) freezable.
Oh, and did I mention these are DELICIOUS? They seriously are. My dad is a native Alabaman and he knows pecan pie and pecan in all forms. He LOVED these bars.
The base is shortbread, and atop that is a just-right thickness of pecans in syrup. This avoids the usual butt-ton of corn syrup that other recipes use and relies on a combo of maple syrup and brown sugar. Which is… maybe healthier? Kinda?
What matters to me, though, is that it tastes good. The maple syrup adds the right sweetness here to complement the nuts.
You don’t have to use pecans here, either. You could certainly try walnuts, cashews, or a combination. Do go for “softer” nuts, though, to make it easier to cut the bars.
I froze a bunch of pecan bars between layers of waxed paper in a freezer container. They thawed again with no difference in taste. They also keep well for at least a week, making these a good candidate for shipping.
As my dad can attest, these bars are perfect for breakfast, snack, or dessert. While you could eat them along with vanilla ice cream, they are good eaten out of hand. Heck, you can even zap them in the microwave if you want them warmed.
However or whenever you eat them, these Maple Pecan Bars will be delicious.
Modified from Bake or Break.
Bready or Not: Maple Pecan Pie Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, cold, cut into pieces
Filling
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1/2 stick, melted and cooled for a few minutes
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups pecans or mixed soft nuts like walnuts or cashews
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 13x9-inch pan with parchment paper and lightly apply butter or nonstick spray along the bottom and sides.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Add the cold butter and use a pastry blender or a fork to mash it down into small crumbles. The overall mix will feel sandy, but it'll hold together after baking.
- Pour the crust mixture into the prepared pan. Use some wax paper and a heavy glass to compress the crumbs.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Set aside as you make the filling.
- Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the maple syrup, melted-and-cooled butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and salt, stirring until combined. Stir in the pecans to coat.
- Pour filling over the partially baked crust. Bake for another 30 to 35 minutes, or until filling is set.
- Cool bars to room temperature and then use the overhanging parchment to lift the contents out to cut into bars. Store in a sealed container for up to a week, or freeze bars for later enjoyment.
- OM NOM NOM!
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