Swiss Walnut Pie (Engadiner Nusstorte or Bündner Nusstorte)

"This caramelly rich pie with walnuts is a typical Swiss speciality of the region of Graubünden in Switzerland."
 
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photo by Artandkitchen photo by Artandkitchen
photo by Artandkitchen
photo by Artandkitchen photo by Artandkitchen
Ready In:
1hr 40mins
Ingredients:
13
Serves:
12-16
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ingredients

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directions

  • Put all the ingredients for the pastry in a food processor and pulse until homogeneous; if necessary, add 1 or 2 tablespoon of water.
  • With the dough, prepare 2 balls (2/3 and 1/3 respectively of the dough) and keep in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
  • Put the sugar, water and honey in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil and let it continue to boil until it becomes a dark golden color. Stir from time to time.
  • Add the nuts and the cream and stir the walnuts until well coated.
  • Remove the saucepan from the heat and. Set aside to cool.
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C Grease a 30 cm tin (heat and timing are basing it on convection oven).
  • Roll out the larger ball between two sheets of cling film to a 34 cm circle and use it to line the tin of 30 cm square. Press the edges of the pastry against the side of the tin.
  • Scrape the filling onto the pastry. Level the top as well as you can, but don’t apply too much pressure, or you may tear the pastry and the filling will leak out. Fold the excess pastry inwards over the filling.
  • Roll the second piece of pastry to a neat 29 cm circle. Moisten the edges of the pastry base in the tin with the egg white and position the second pastry circle on top of this. Use a fork to crimp and seal the edges Mix the reserved egg yolk with 2 tablespoon cream and brush the cover. Prick with a fork in several places. If you like, you can score a plaid pattern onto the surface with the fork.
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave to cool until lukewarm in the tin, then loosen the sides, release the clip and carefully transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Reviews

  1. Let me tell you, this came SO close to getting 5 stars. I'd give it 4.5 if I could. My husband wanted to give it 5 stars. For me, the crust was very crumbly and not workable. It still tasted all right, but I couldn't pack it into a ball or roll it out, so I grabbed a bunch of the "crust" and pressed it in the spring form pan, layered on the filling, and I put the rest on the top. If I can figure out where I goofed with the crust, then that might take this recipe up to 5 stars.<br/><br/>I live in the United States, so I had to convert everything. For the crust, I used 2 3/4 cups flour, 14 tablespoons of butter, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 egg. For the filling, I used 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons water, 2 cups walnuts, 150 ml heavy cream, and 3 tablespoons honey.<br/><br/>A warning to those who make this recipe: Watch the filling very closely! The first time, I burnt the sugar and honey mixture. I didn't know that was possibly. The second time, I was so paranoid about burning it, that I'm not sure I cooked it enough!<br/><br/>In conclusion, this recipe isn't foolproof, but it is pretty tasty!
     
  2. Very good recipe....quite close the real thing. We live in Switzerland and this is almost the same as the Nusstorte we buy in our local bakery. I modified it a bit compared to the posted recipe: - I used 3 Tbspns maple syrup insted of honey with 1.5 Tblspns water insted if 2. - I used 125ml heavy cream with 25 ml sweetened condensed milk (we ran out of cream) -added about 1/8 tspn salt to the filing while cooking -I used brown sugar instead of white (measured to the same as recipe by weight) -for the crust, I added 1/2 tspn vanilla paste. I made 2 tortli instead of one with this recipe, but I used 2 x 15 cm spring form pans and covered the bottom first with baking paper to make it easier to remove. The dough was very hard to work with as it becomes soft very easily. For the main crust, I just rolled it out between two sheets of baking paper and then tried my best to fit it in the pan. In the end, I just pressed it in like a crumb crust. For the top crust, I rolled it out and put it in the refrigerator for 15 mins to stiffen up. Then, I peeled the paper off and worked quickly to get it on top of the filled lower crust before it started to soften. I did the same for the maple leaf decorations
     
  3. This is absolutely wonderful. A piecrust-lover's dream. There is a good amount of lovely shortcakey crust wrapped around oozey, caramelly, nutty goodness. This would be a fantastic alternative to pecan pie for the holidays.
     
  4. Made this for our gourmet group's Switzerland dinner. Very tasty and easy. Made the day before. Crust is terrific, tastes like shortbread and very easy to work with. Used a 28" springform pan.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I'm a wife, mother, beekeeper, food addicted and lover of nature as well as travels. Travelling I discovered the pleasures for the food, his colors, taste and spices. Now I?m really devoted to food photography and I love experimenting with new recipes to share them with my family and the world. My main inspirations: Italy: my roots Switzerland: homeland Greece: adopted homeland Travelling: spices and dreams Herbs and Bees: education in biology Colors and shapes: love eat with eyes as well
 
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