YWPWT - Orange Chocolate Walnut Tartlette

This month's theme is brought to us by the ever fabulous Jacque at Daisy Lane Cakes:

Nuts about Pie!!

Let’s get creative with nature’s protein and nutrient powerhouse, the humble nut. Peanuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, pistachios… whatever you chose, let’s use nuts as a prominent feature in next month’s pie. Whether it’s a nut-based shell that perfectly complements the filling, or a nut-studded filling, I can’t wait to see what all you creative bakers come up with.

Don’t forget about coconut, which is a nut too, right?

And for those with nut allergies, feel free to use substitutions… or skip the nuts and get artistic with peanut shaped crust… or whatever. Be creative! Whatever you do, have fun and we’ll see you next month!


Now I like nuts, but I have to be honest I wasn't that jazzed about making a nutty pie. I love peanut butter but I already made a peanut buttery pie for my Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous Pie. Thus I was faced with a dilemma, what to do, what kinda of pie would be tasty and satisfying and would use up some ingredients I already had on hand. In looking in my cupboard I found a huge bag of walnut halves making my choice if what nut to use easy. I decided on a walnut crust and since I love chocolate and walnuts, it turned into a chocolate & walnut crust that I made with walnuts, cocoa powder, butter and an egg. I also found some lovely organic Valencia oranges from a Mama Earth box that were on the verge of turning and though Chocolate and Orange are a classic combo so I made them into a delicious orange curd, following this recipe for lime curd. To make it even more rich, like that was necessary!?! I folded the orange curd with a mascarpone whipped cream mixture. It truly was a dish I just threw together and didn't pay much attention to recipe or amounts, which is why I am not writing it up here.


The folks at the office gobbled up three 4" tarts and I kept one at home for the boy and I. I ate my half while he was still at work was really happy with the flavors, it could use a little more orange I thought but it was a solid start. The boy was not a fan, he admitted to not liking chocolate and orange together and felt the crust was too chocolaty (as if that's even possible) and the custard needed more orange. Well, you can't please them all, but I liked what I came up with considering I thought about bailing this month. Head on over to You Want Pies With That after August 7th to check out what the other talented ladies created. Enjoy!