Honey Nut Pie

It's pie season! Hip, hip, hurray! I'm so excited! Can you tell? Let's talk favorite pie. Mine is pecan. Anybody else with me on that one? It's my very favorite pie of all time, forever and always. Don't worry, I will refrain from writing it a poem.

So, I've been playing around with my favorite pecan pie recipe and I've finally configured a Honey Nut Pie that I am totally in love with. It took a few tries to achieve the perfect combo of nuts and the right amount of honey. It was so worth the arduous work of tasting pie after pie to make this delectable Honey Nut Pie a nut lover's dream.

Cashews, pecans, and almonds mingle with subtle notes of honey in this fabulous Honey Nut Pie.

This pie is packed with chunky cashews, pecans, and almonds all toasted to nutty perfection and mingling together with lovely notes of honey. If you're a nut lover (like me), you are going to love this pie.




I like to use sourdough pastry for most of my pies. I usually make up a batch, roll out 2 or 3 crusts, and freeze them so I can pull 'em out whenever I crave pie. 😉 For this pie, I blind bake my crust to avoid a soggy bottom. This is especially helpful with my sourdough pastry recipe as it contains quite a bit of butter.






This nut-liscious pie bakes in a deep dish crust. When the pie is done baking it will have a slight wobble in the center. No worries. The pie will set up as it cools.

Honey Nut Pie for all the nut lovers out there.

After 5 minutes out of the oven brush the top of the pie with a little warm honey to accentuate the honey flavor.

Spending Thanksgiving with any nut lovers? Bring this Honey Nut Pie along and watch 'em drool.

Honey Nut Pie
(makes one deep dish pie)

INGREDIENTS
1 deep dish single pie crust (I used sourdough pastry)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup pecans
1/2 cup almonds, roughly chopped
1 to 2 Tbsp honey for brushing on top

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Toast your cashews (unless they've already been roasted) for 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Line the crust with foil, fill with 1 lb dry beans, and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and beans, push down any puffiness, and bake another 5 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Lower oven temp to 350 degrees and whisk together the eggs, honey, corn syrup, sugar, vanilla, and melted butter.
5. Stir in the nuts and fill your pie crust.
6. Cover the edges with foil and bake 25 minutes. While your pie cooks, place a heat safe dish with 1 to 2 Tbsp of honey on top of your oven to warm.
7. Remove foil from pie and bake another 20 to 25 minutes. You can add the foil back onto the edges at any time during baking if they are looking too brown. The finished pie should have a slight wobble in the middle.
8. Once out of the oven, let pie cool for 5 minutes (or until it looks set) and brush the top with warm honey.
9. Let pie cool for 2 hours before cutting.

My Favorite Fresh Strawberry Pie

I'm already starting to think about what kinds of goodies I wanna make this Fall. Don't worry, I won't jump into all the pumpkin stuff until an appropriate period of grieving over the end of summer has passed. Or, will I? Just kidding. I totally won't. I don't want to be one of those people. You know who I'm talkin' about.

This fresh strawberry pie with sourdough crust doesn't last long in my house.

Let's just continue to enjoy summer together with my favorite fresh strawberry pie. There are a bunch of different ways to make this perfect summertime treat. Here's how I like to do it.

This sourdough pie crust is rich and flaky with a hint of sourdough flavor.

I start with a sourdough crust. One batch of my sourdough pastry will make two or three 9" pie crusts. I like to make up a batch and freeze the extra crusts for later use. Just make sure you start the process the night before you want pie as the sourdough crust needs time to ferment. When I'm pressed for time (and energy) I like to use a store-bought graham cracker crust. I buy a gluten free one, but a regular graham cracker crust is perfectly fine too. The sweet graham cookie flavor goes perfect with this pie. In fact, I sometimes prefer it.

On a side note, in case you're wondering why I either choose gluten free or sourdough products, it's because wheat can be hard for some people to digest. When I stopped eating wheat products my battle with indigestion all but disappeared. I still eat wheat, occasionally, but I try to ferment it using my sourdough starter whenever I can. The probiotics (friendly yeast and bacteria in my starter) break down the structure of the wheat making it easier to digest. I know, a bit scientific. Bottom line, my tummy feels better when I avoid straight up wheat.



While my sourdough crust cools, I cook up my gelatin mixture using Taste of Home's recipe. A cornstarch and sugar slurry gets heated until thick. Then, I add in a small box of strawberry Jello.

Is there anything better than fresh strawberries piled into a homemade crust?

While my gelatin mixture cools in the fridge, I slice up the strawberries and pile them into my crust.



The cooled gelatin mixture gets poured on top of the fresh berries and the pie goes into the fridge for a few hours 'til set.

I like to top my fresh strawberry pie with good ol' Cool Whip to keep things easy.

Lastly, I top my pie with a whole honk'n container of Cool Whip. Fresh whipped cream is also good if you don't mind the extra step. I like the flavor, stability, and easiness of Cool Whip, so that's what I usually go with for this pie.

A slice of this pie on a warm summer night is just the right way to enjoy summer. My advice? Strawberry on until the pumpkins take over. 🍓

Fresh Strawberry Pie

INGREDIENTS
1 9" sourdough pie crust using my sourdough pastry recipe (use my recipe to roll out 2 or 3 crusts and freeze the extra crusts for later use) OR use a store-bought graham cracker crust
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup water
1 3 oz package strawberry Jello
4 cups sliced strawberries
1 8 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed in the fridge

DIRECTIONS
1. Blind bake your sourdough pie crust. (If using a store-bought graham cracker crust, skip down to step 2.) After you've rolled out your crust, lined your pie plate, and rested the crust in the freezer for 5 minutes, gently line your crust with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and pie weights, pierce the bottom of your crust with a fork, and bake another 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. If the edges are getting too brown, cover them with foil.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and water and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes until thick.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the strawberry Jello. Refrigerate mixture for 15 minutes.
4. Slice your berries, if you haven't already, and arrange them into your cooled pie crust.
5. When the timer is up for your gelatin mixture, pour it over the berries as evenly as possible. Refrigerate pie for a few hours until set.
6. Spread the whole tub of Cool Whip over the top of your pie.
7. Continue to say "yes" to strawberries and "no" to pumpkin.