Maple Buttermilk Custard Pie with a Pecan Shortbread Crust

One delicious pie!

Crust:

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

• ½ cup pecans, plus 12-14 extra for the cookies as the top “crust”

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

• 8 ounces unsalted butter, frozen overnight

• 6-8 Tbsp ice water

• 1 egg (for egg washing the cookies)

Filling:

• 1 cup maple syrup – the best you can find

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1 large egg and 4 egg yolks

• 2 tsp vanilla paste

• 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger

• ½ tsp fine sea salt

• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

• 2 tsp orange flower water

1)     The night before, place two sticks of unsalted butter in your freezer

2)     In a food processor, pulse together the flour, ¼ cup pecans, salt and sugar. Remove the sticks of butter from the freezer. Cut each into ¼” cubes.  Add half the butter to the processor and pulse until incorporated and then add the remaining butter and pulse again (three or four times).  Add 6 Tbsp ice water and pulse until dough starts to come together. Turn the dough into a bowl and gather with your hands into a large ball. Cut the ball in half, flatten into two discs, wrap each in plastic wrap and chill one hour.

3)     After the hour, roll one of the discs into a large circle to fit into your pie plate. Lightly place the rolled dough into the plate and crimp the edges as you prefer. Chill the pie shell while you heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line the pie shell with tin foil to hold the pastry in place and bake for 35 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes to dry the shell. Set on a rack to cool.

4)     While the shell is baking, roll the second disk ¼” thick and cut into desired cookie shapes. Re-roll and cut again to create 12-14 cookies. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, brush with an egg wash (made from the one egg and a Tbsp water), place a pecan on the cookie and then sprinkle with granulated sugar.  When the pie shell comes out of the oven, bake the cookies for about 20 minutes until puffed and golden. Also cool the cookies on the wire rack.

5)     In a small saucepan, heat the syrup to a light simmer. In a medium bowl, whisk together the one egg and four yolks, the vanilla paste, the grated ginger and salt. Measure one cup of heavy cream into a 4-cup glass measuring cup and whisk in the hot syrup. Lightly whisk the maple/cream into the egg mix. Strain this liquid back into the glass measuring cup, and lightly whisk in the one cup buttermilk, the orange flower water and the grated nutmeg.   Pour this mixture into the pie shell, place the pie in the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees. Bake for 60-75 minutes until the custard is just set and still a bit wobbly.

6)     Cool the pie on a wire rack and place the cooled cookies around the edge.