Something very good happened in my kitchen this week, and I thought you should know about it. I made a grain-free hazelnut pie crust. And this pie crust was perfect: light, buttery, golden, crispy, and delicious.
Let me back up for just a minute, though. Last year around this time, my grain-free world was rocked by a new pie crust recipe. As you know by now, I am super picky when it comes to desserts and baked goods, and I would rather not eat a treat at all than have a weird “paleo” version of an old favorite. So, my life had been woefully short on pie. But it’s one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving, so I had to figure something out.
This recipe turned out to be excellent, and so last year I baked us three pies, and that was wonderful. (It even worked well for a double-crusted apple pie! Here’s a picture.) This year, I decided to see if I could make something even more special, and that is how I came up with this totally delicious hazelnut pie crust. In my test run, I used it to make a pumpkin pie with, and I think it may have been the best pumpkin pie I have ever eaten. (I have eaten a lot of pumpkin pie, by the way.)
So now I will make another pumpkin pie (here’s the recipe I LOVE and get rave reviews about every year) with a hazelnut crust for our feast this Thursday. And I will probably use that holiday cooking momentum to make a few more to freeze for future use, since I like to pay it forward to myself.
Hazelnut Pie Crust (Grain-Free!)
This crust is rich and delicate, and pairs beautifully with pumpkin pies and other autumn desserts with pastry crusts. The best surprise is that it’s grain-free!
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 Crust 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 cup hazelnut flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup arrowroot or tapioca flour
- 3 tablespoons sucanat or brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1 egg
- parchment paper or plastic wrap and a rolling pin for rolling out the crust (although I always use an unopened bottle of wine, as I find the weight of the bottle is perfect, and I don’t have to worry about it taking up precious drawer space)
Instructions
- Sift together the flours, sugar and salt, into the bowl of your food processor (or a mixing bowl if you are not using a food processor).
- Using a food processor or pastry cutter, cut butter into the flour mixture until the size of large crumbs.
- Add the egg and pulse just until a dough begins to form.
- Take the dough out and form it into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes or more.
- Transfer the dough to a work surface covered with parchment paper. Use another sheet of parchment paper to cover the dough as you roll it out into a round at least 12 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. (If you find that the dough is sticking to the paper, you can sprinkle with tapioca flour.)
- Take the top sheet of paper off of the crust and carefully invert the rolled-out dough to your chosen pan, using your fingers to repair any cracks. (I found this dough to be very easy and forgiving to work with.)
- To partially or completely bake unfilled pastry, preheat the oven to 375 °F.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes (10 to 12 minutes for partially baked shell).
- Let it cool completely before filling.
This crust smells unbelievably good when it’s baking in the oven. Think butter, hazelnuts, and brown sugar. Swoon. And when I baked my pumpkin pie, I didn’t need to cover the edges of the crust to keep them from burning– it got perfectly golden and crispy. Enjoy!
This crust looks amazing. Love the smell of hazelnuts
Looks fabulous Ariana!
sounds perfect!! did you pre-bake make pumpkin pie?
Hi Lulu,
I didn’t prebake for pumpkin pie. It did nicely at the same time and temperatures as the pumpkin pie recipe called for.
Thank you so much for this recipe. It is just perfect. So tasty and so easy to make!! I made a chocolate pie with it and was divine!
Can you share your pumpkin filling recipe? 🙂 Thanks again!
Lovely, delicious recipe! Hazelnuts are a favorite around here.
Thanks for sharing! It’s always nice to see grain free alternatives?
This sounds delicious! I bet it adds such a lovely layer of flavor to pies!
Looks lovely, I can imagine how wonderful it would be with pumpkin.
Hi! for the double crust apple pie did you prebake? Also how much salt do you recommend?
Hi Jody,
A pinch of salt should do it, a little more for a savory crust. I didn’t pre-bake for the double crusted pie– it would be really tricky to seal the top crust to the bottom one if I did. But if that’s something you usually do, let me know, because then I will have learned a new trick!
This is an old recipe, but it would be helpful to correct it (or take it down) as it omits the instruction to add the sugar to the flours, and also does not include a salt qualktity (though that can be found it the comments). It’s great to have a good recipe resource, but bad to have one for which the directions lead you astray. I had a nice crust in the making until I had to add sugar after everything had been processed. Result = glue.
Hi Patrick,
I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know about the errors in this recipe. I had no idea! I have corrected them, and I am very sorry that you had a poor experience with the recipe because of my mistakes.
This sounds amazing! Im wondering if I can use fresh roasted hazelnuts and grind them in my food processor instead of buying hazelnut flour?
Thanks! Teresa
I plan to make this crust for a cheesecake. Should I partially bake the crust before adding the cheesecake filling.
It sounds yummy_
Thanks,
Pat