Pistachio Honey Pie

Honestly pie has never been my favorite thing to eat or make (I’m Team Cake, please don’t hate me). But I always make sure to bake one in honor of Pi Day, which I can’t help celebrate since I am both a low-key nerd and a failed math major.

This year’s pie is from my new favorite pie book, The New Pie. The New Pie was written by Chris and Paul, a married pair of CDC scientists who enter pie baking competitions in their spare time (you know, when they’re not busy protecting us from infectious diseases). They’ve won many pie competitions throughout the country, which is no surprise since their book is filled with unique and original pie recipes like King Fluffernutter Pie and Bubbling Butterbeer Pie. Along the way, they also taught me a bunch of awesome baking tricks that I plan to apply beyond pie — like, did you know you that you could turn whipped cream into ice cubes?

Because I just finished developing and testing a last-minute pistachio muffin recipe, I decided to try their pistachio honey pie recipe to use up all my spare pistachio nuts. According to Chris and Paul, this pie recipe was inspired by Mediterranean and Middle Eastern baklava, which led them to top the pie with phyllo dough as opposed to more pie crust. I was 100% there for it — not only did I have to do less work (they recommend buying store-bought dough), the phyllo topping was both delicious AND gorgeous and the perfect compliment to the pistachio honey filling (which did indeed taste like baklava). 

Enjoy!

• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (6 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons (1.5 ounces) vegetable shortening
• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) very cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) very cold water

• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup (4 ounces) honey
• 1/3 cup (4 ounces) light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cups (10 ounces) shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped

• 3 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar