When I first decided to make an oatmeal-cookie-like pie crust, I couldn’t imagine a finer filling than creamy, plump raisins. What a better way to emulate the classic cookie that’d inspired me? But something was missing. For one, I didn’t want my pie to look like a black blob of raisins from the top. Second, even though I don’t usually make my oatmeal cookies with nuts, I felt the urge to add them here. I decided to reach for hazelnuts, trusting my well-known favorite to be delightful for the eyes and mouth alike. All together, the oatmeal raisin pie proved to be hearty, fragrant and utterly scrumptious.
Oatmeal Raisin Hazelnut Pie (makes one 9” pie; serves 10-14).
For the crust:
- ½ cup butter at room temperature
- 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar, depending on sweetness of filling
- ¾ teaspoon salt (decrease if butter is salted)
- 1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 1.25 cups whole old fashioned oats
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Lightly grease 9″ pie pan. Mix butter and sugar until even in consistency. Sift salt, cinnamon and flour over butter mixture; stir, adding lemon juice to aid moisture. Fold in the oats and mix with bare hands until dough sticks together and texture is even. Firmly push into pan, using knuckles to pack dough evenly in bottom and sides (about 1/4 to 1/3” thick); if pan is glass, hold crust up to light to look for thin spots. Freeze crust for 45 minutes or up to overnight.
For the filling:
- 2 cups raisins, well packed
- 1.25 cups boiling water
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 eggs (room temperature)
- 1/3 cup whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 1.25 cup roasted hazelnuts, most skins removed
Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake the frozen pie crust for 6-8 minutes, then remove from oven to let cool a bit. Pour the boiling water over the raisins in a heatproof bowl. Let sit in water 5-10 minutes; drain in sieve. While raisins are draining, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and whipping cream. Sift cornstarch over the mixture, and keep beating until batter is bubbly and light in color; set aside. Shake any excess water out of the raisins, then toss the orange zest in with them. Pour raisins and zest into the pie crust. Top with an even layer of nuts. Slowly pour batter over pie, filling to inner edge of crust but not overflowing (you may have a few extra tablespoons batter) and rearrange nuts if needed. Bake 30 minutes. Pie will be amazingly fragrant and toasty at this point. Cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil and return to oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool for at least 3 hours or overnight. Store and serve at room temperature, topping each small slice with lightly sweetened whipped cream before devouring.
Fabulously filling and rich, oatmeal hazelnut raisin pie is satisfying on many levels. Its chewy raisin center matches perfectly with its crumbly whole wheat crust, just as its hint of cinnamon complements the spontaneous butterscotch in the filling. Nutty and nourishing, this pie is as perfect for dessert as it can be for breakfast. With fruit, oats and eggs on your fork, who will argue with its wholesomeness? (No need to mention the brown sugar, butter or cream…)
Maybe next time… If you’re not a fruit-and-nuts kind of person, please consider making the unusual oatmeal crust, which is independently delicious and versatile (I’m already working on a cinnamon caramel custard pie in it—stay tuned!). If you want to stick with dried fruit, I’m sure that dried apples, pears or cranberries would make winning additions. If hazelnuts aren’t your favorite, try walnuts, pecans or macadamias in their place. I love adding orange zest to many dessert recipes, but if you want to omit it here or use lemon instead, feel free. Finally, for a punch of spice, you might try tossing in a tablespoon of finely minced crystallized ginger with the raisins. Whatever you do, enjoy!
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This is gorgeous! I love your photography, too 🙂 Glad I found yor blog!
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing these kind words! I’m looking forward to checking out your blog, too, and am off to do so now…
Ohm… I love everything that include hazelnuts! Now, add raisin to it – reminds me of my favorite Fruit & Nut chocolate bars. Do they have them in stores where you live? Absolute Yum! Love your photos! Glad dianne’s kitchen table had your link! Cheers!
Hi Anastasia, Thanks for stopping by and sharing your sweet words! I live in California and find hazelnuts in the bulk section at various grocers, or at Trader Joe’s with the other bagged nuts. Here’s to our kitchen-quests! (The more hazelnuts, the better!)
WOW, this is so creative and looks absolutely amazing! This will be on my list for spring pies 🙂 Love the crust idea too!
Thanks so much, Lilly Sue — it would be an honor to have this on your list of spring pies! (I’m thinking I’ll put the crust on my *summer* pie list, pre-bake it, and make ice cream pie in it…bu then again, why wait until summer?)
ha ha exactly! I actually had first wrote summer pie list but then was like,…can I wait until summer!? Great minds think alike! 😀
Yes!! Here’s to our culinary adventures! 🙂
Everything about this sounds so good but I absolutely love hazelnuts. I’m surprised you’re able to find them though. Fruits, nuts…yup, sounds wholesome to me.
Thanks so much, Diane. I love hazelnuts, too — there’s just no other nut with such a great flavor.
Oh, how pretty! I like cookie dough pie crust a lot, so this particularly appeals to me. And nuts–hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans–are always welcome in my dessert.
My favorite part of this post was your description of the “spontaneous butterscotch” in the filling; I truly wish that life were full of spontaneous butterscotch. Wouldn’t that be lovely?
Thank you so much, Katy. And, yes: spontaneous butterscotch forever! The more, the better.
mouth-watering!
Many, many thanks, Miss Candy!
That just looks like heaven on a plate! I don’t make pies too often because I get bored with plain crust, so this is definitely a breath of fresh air! I bet it would be divine with ginger:)
Thank you, Cameron! I feel the same way about pie crust — it’s so plain, plus it’s really tough for me to get it as flaky as I want it. So pie has not been common in my kitchen, but this oatmeal crust just might change that. 🙂
You come up with the most creative confections, Sugar! And thank you for the permission to have this for breakfast. Yes, please, I’ll take a thick slice with my coffee. 😉
Thank you, sweet Robin! I’d love to share this pie with you, alongside steaming cups of dark coffee — in Polish pottery mugs, of course!
That would be perfect.