Pistachio Chocolate Nut Pie

Pistachios are always an underrated dessert.

Google or pinterest ‘pistachio dessert’ and the top results are bright green, artificial desserts. They usually use some sort of instant pistachio pudding. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, sometimes a quick dessert is great! But for this pistachio dessert, I wanted something different. I wanted to use real whole pistachios.

The pistachio chocolate nut pie starts with caramelized sugar and honey, mixed with eggs to form the base dough. Then pistachios and almond extract are folded in and baked in a homemade flaky butter pie crust.

Pistachio chocolate nut pie is similar to a pecan pie. So similar that you could probably use your favorite pecan pie recipe and use pistachios in place of pecans. I made a few changes, of course.

Instead of using corn syrup, I swapped it for honey. It changes the flavor a bit and adds a good deep sweetness. to bring out the pistachio flavor, I added almond extract instead of vanilla.

If you’re short on time, you can always use a store-bought crust. If you’ve never made homemade crust, it’s so so easy! You just mix everything together, roll out the dough, and par-bake. I never chill my pie dough, like most recipes call for. I think the step is counter-productive. Because once you take the dough out of the fridge then you have to wait for it to get room temperature before rolling. That’s a lot of waiting around. They say chilling the dough first helps produce a more flaky crust and helps avoid shrinkage. But I’ve never noticed a significant difference and as long as you par-bake the crust with pie weights, you shouldn’t have a problem.

side view of baked and sliced pistachio pie

Are you going to make Pistachio Chocolate Nut Pie? Tell me your thoughts below and leave a comment with any questions or suggestions!

Pistachio Chocolate Nut Pie

From north coast eats at https://northcoasteats.com/pistachio-chocolate-nut-pie/

https://northcoasteats.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/pistachio.pie_.northcoasteats-0038.jpg

Yield: makes one 9 inch pie

pistachio chocolate nut pie starts with caramelized sugar and honey, mixed with eggs to form the base dough. Then pistachios and almond extract are folded in and baked in a homemade flaky butter pie crust.

You'll Need...

CRUST:
1/4 cup margarine, cold & cubed
1/4 cup butter, cold & cubed
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 -4 teaspoons water
PIE:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup pistachios, unsalted
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl place all crust ingredients except water. Mix with a fork until pea-sized butter clumps remain. If too dry, add water. Roll out dough and place in a 9 inch pie pan. Crimp pie sides. Fill crust with pie weights (or dry beans) and bake 7 - 10 minutes until barely golden.
Make the pie: Heat a small sauce pan over low heat. Add sugar and honey. Stir and cook until sugar is melted. Remove from heat. Add butter, cinnamon, eggs. Mix well.
Stir in almond extract and salt.
Place half the pistachios and all the chocolate chips in baked crust. Top with pie mixture. Place the remaining pistachios on top of pie. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until filling is set and pistachios are toasted.