Flavourful Pie Crust Recipe from: Rancho Vignola, Armstrong, BC

Pie crust is often quite bland, lacking much in the way of character, take your pie crust up a notch in flavour by adding nuts! They bring a whole new depth to the dish you create.

While this recipe uses walnuts, feel free to experiment. Hazelnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pecans and macadamias are also all quite complementary.

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c ground walnuts, lightly roasted or raw (or try with another variety of nut!)
1 c cold butter
1/2 tsp salt (if using salted butter, reduce salt to 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp sugar (optional)
1/4 to 1/2 c ice water (the easiest way to make this is to fill a measuring cup with ice and top it up with cool water, then let it sit while you prep).

Start by chopping the cold butter into small half-inch cubes. Optional but recommended: place the chopped butter in the freezer while you get everything else ready, approximately 15 to 20 minutes is good.

Using a food processor fitted with the metal S-blade makes pie crust easy, we promise. First, add your walnuts and process until they’re finely ground, similar to what graham cracker crumbs look like. If you notice them starting to stick at the bottom edge (the beginning stages of nut butter), stop processing further. Scrape the walnuts away from the edge of the processor bowl and add your flour, salt and sugar; pulse a few times to combine.

Now add half the butter chunks, pulse three or four times until they’re mixed into the flour, then add the rest of the butter. Pulse about seven to ten times, until the chunks of butter are a bit smaller than the size of green peas.

Add ¼-cup of ice water while you pulse a few more times so it doesn’t end up in a pool. Now check your dough: when you remove the lid of the food processor the dough will still look crumbly, but when you pinch the dough it should stick together and not crumble apart. If the dough is still crumbly when pinched, add more ice water two tablespoons at a time; again, pulse to incorporate and do the pinch test. You should not need any more than half a cup of water; add too much water and the crust will become more tough once baked.

• Walnuts – Raw, Halves & Pieces – ORGANIC
• Walnuts – Raw, Halves & Pieces
• Macadamias – Raw – ORGANIC
• Macadamias – Raw
• Brazil Nuts – Raw – ORGANIC