Cashew nut, honey & vanilla pie

I came across a recipe of a walnut and honey filled pie in an old issue of Elle Eten (the Dutch food version of Elle magazine) the other day. It looked so good that I had to try it. I changed the walnuts to cashew nuts because I had plenty of unsalted cashewnuts lying around begging for me to use them. Besides the honey I added some vanilla to the filling too. Instead of the dough in the original recipe I used the apple pie dough my mum uses. Turned out that the flower I used to decorate not only looked cute, it was helpful too because I could cut between the petals and create 6 really equal slices :)



Even though it was a delicious pie, I was disappointed about the lack of cashew nut taste. The taste of the honey and crust overwhelmed it. I guess I never realised that cashew nuts have such a delicate taste. Next time I'll make it with either walnuts or hazelnuts.
I used a springform pan to make the pie because I don't have a pie pan/dish. I thought it was very useful because that way I could cut out the bottom by placing the greased bottom of the spring onto the rolled out dough and just cut around it with a sharp knife. If you carefully turn it around (and if you're lucky) it will stick to the bottom so you just attach the top part of the springform with the bottom part of the dough already in place. (it does take a little practice to place to close the thing in an orderly fashion I should add!) To make the disk that went on top I opened the upper part of the springform and used that to cut a round out of the other part of the rolled out dough. This made it a little bigger than the first round so that it would easily cover the filling and still have enough dough to reach the sides of the springform.



Cashew nut, honey & vanilla pie (adapted from Elle Eten)

serves 6

crust:
250 g (8 ¾ oz) flour
150 g (5 ¼ oz) butter, cold and cut into cubes
125 g (4 ½ oz) caster sugar
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 egg

filling:
25 g (1 oz) butter
3 TBS honey
½ ts vanilla
100 g (3 ½ oz) cashew nuts, chopped

egg wash:
1 egg
1 TBS water
pinch of salt

Rub the flour and butter between your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and lemon rind and stir it in. Stir in the egg. Knead briefly to combine and to let it come together. Form into two disks and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 15-18 cm (6-7 in) springform or pie pan.
Roll out each disk between 2 sheets of baking paper to a thickness of about 4 mm (1/6 in). Cut out a round that will fit the bottom of the pan (for a tip, see the text above). Cut out a slightly larger round to cover the filling. Cut out a flower and a small round with a cookie cutter.
Place round no. 1 into the springform. Spread the filling on top of it, leaving a 1½ cm (½ in) border at the sides. Place round no. 2 on top. Press the borders onto each other. Put the flower in the middle and the small round in the middle of the flower. Brush with egg wash. Bake about 40 minutes or until golden brown.