Spiced Autumn Walnut and Golden Syrup Tart-Pie

French Tart's Note:

This sticky and lightly spiced walnut tart is absolutely perfect for any autumn gathering, especially Thanksgiving, Halloween or Bonfire Night. It combines walnuts together with warm spices and a hint of orange, which are all bound together in a buttery syrup filling.......if you cannot get hold of golden syrup, you can use honey instead. Serve this pie with a dollop of cream, crème fraiche or yoghurt.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 8

Yield: 1.0 Walnut ...

PASTRY

• 150 g plain flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 75 g butter

PIE FILLING

• 3 medium eggs
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 50 g demerara sugar
• 150 ml golden syrup or 150 ml organic honey
• 50 g butter , softened
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 orange, rind of , finely grated
• 150 g shelled walnut halves

Directions:

1. PASTRY.
2. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl then rub the butter in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then stir in enough water to give a soft but not sticky dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface then use to line a 30cm x 10cm / 12in x 4in rectangular fluted flan tin. Trim off any excess pastry then line with baking paper and beans and bake blind in a preheated oven at 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes until lightly browned.
4. Meanwhile beat the eggs and milk together. Boil the Demerara sugar and syrup together in a saucepan for about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the butter, cinnamon, vanilla and orange rind and cool slightly. Slowly pour the syrup mixture onto the beaten eggs and milk mixture.
5. Scatter the walnuts over the pastry case and then spoon the syrup mixture over and smooth over the surface with the back of a spoon.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 220°C/425°F/Gas 7 for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3 and cook for a further 40-50 minutes or until the filling is set.
7. Serve either hot or cold with a dollop of cream, creme fraiche or yoghurt.

Reviews

[The Flying Chef]

This was awesome!!! I made mine with pecans instead of walnuts as that is what I had on hand. It smelled amazing during cooking and when my guests turned up they were all commenting on the lovely smell in the house. I did accidentally pour too much syrup mix into my pies and it trickled over the edge and caramalised down the bottom outside part of the pie. This did not affect the taste at all and it still got rave reviews, even from my hubby who is not a massive lover of nutty pies. I had half a pie left over as I made 2 smaller round ones and my hubby has been enjoying it emensley over the last couple of days. I loved all the little additions of the cinnamon, vanilla and orange rind. I added a little more of both the cinnamon and vanilla as I made a bit more mix than stated to fill 2 pies. Ok so I have gone on long enough a really great recipe FT and one I would highly recommend.. :)

[GingerlyJ]

The smell alone is enough to make your mouth water!