Sweet, nutty, gooey, and buttery, this Macadamia Pie hits all the spots. It is a glorious tropical twist to a classic Pecan Pie I guarantee you’ll love. This post was sponsored by MacFarms® but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
If you’re a fan of pecan pie, you have to try this fun tropical twist using macadamia nuts with a hint of honey, encased in my go-to all-butter pie crust. This recipe for macadamia nut pie is not a typical one you’ll see everywhere so bringing this to a party will ensure your dessert is a standout!
Similar to my S’mores pie and my chocolate chip cookie pie, this macadamia pie has a sweet gooey custard filling with a slight crunch from the macadamia nuts. I promise you are in for a real treat! And if you’re a fan of macadamia nuts looking for ways to add a twist to more traditional recipes like I am, be sure to try my macadamia coconut croissants and my macadamia coconut rugelach.
Table of Contents
Helpful tools
Below are some noted tools you’ll need to make this macadamia pie.
- A food processor or stand mixer to make your homemade pie dough. But you can also make it by hand as well.
- A rolling pin to roll out the pie dough. I use a French rolling pin with tapered edges, I find these easier to control than the ones with handles.
- A pie pan for baking.
- Pie weights to weigh down the crust when par-baking it. You can also use uncooked beans or rice. I personally have a couple pounds of dry beans just for this purpose.
- Parchment paper to line the crust while par-baking. You don’t want to pour pie weights directly on to the pie crust. Parchment paper will also allow you to lift out the pie weights easily.
- Pie shield is used to shield the edges from getting burned in the oven. I have a silicone shield but actually prefer using foil. I just tear off long strips and wrap it loosely around the pie crust to protect it from burning.
Ingredients and Substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- One batch of pie dough – this is made with flour, granulated sugar, some salt, and lots of unsalted butter, all brought together with cold water. If you don’t plan to make homemade pie crust, you can simplify the process by using refrigerated pie dough or a frozen pie crust.
- Unsalted butter – a small amount is used in the filling to add a buttery flavor. Try replacing with brown butter to add more depth to the filling.
- Macadamia nuts – you can use raw or roasted and unsalted macadamia nuts. Make sure it is unsalted or your macadamia pie will be very salty and unpleasant. Try replacing part of the macadamia nuts with coconut flakes to up the tropical flavor.
- Egg – you’ll need 3 eggs for the custard filling.
- Vanilla – pure vanilla extract is added to round out the flavor, add warmth and complexity to the filling.
- Light corn syrup – corn syrup is typically used in candy making to help prevent crystallization. It helps the filling in this pie stay gooey. It is NOT the same as high fructose corn syrup, if that’s what you were thinking. You could substitute most of it with honey if you’d like, but I would still use at least a quarter cup of corn syrup to help with crystallization.
- Honey – along with the corn syrup, this is used to sweeten the filling and add another layer of flavor. You can use more honey and less corn syrup if you’d like.
- Brown sugar – added for depth of flavor.
- Flour – this helps set the filling. You can substitute cornstarch or tapioca starch.
- Salt – this pies has a sweet filling and salt cuts through the sugar to balance it out.
How to make macadamia pie
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Prepare the pie crust
If you decide to make home made pie crust, you can check out my post on How to make Pie Crust for even more detailed instructions along with all the tips and tricks.
Mix together your flour, sugar and salt, cut the cold butter into it and drizzle with cold water to bring the dough together. Shape into a disk and refrigerate for an hour before rolling out.
Once the dough is ready, roll it out and shape it in your pie pan, flute the edge or finish the edge however you’d like. Refrigerate or freeze for 15-30 minutes before par-baking. Poke the dough with a fork to create steam vents and fill it with pie weights. Bake for 25 minutes at 425°F with the weights and then an additional 5 minutes without the weights.
Note: Since this macadamia nut pie has a custard style filling, par baking the pie crust will ensure that you don’t end up with a soggy pie crust at the bottom.
Prepare the filling
First, toast the macadamia nuts in a skillet over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until they are fragrant and slightly brown. Spread them on a chopping board to cool and roughly chop them up for the filling, leaving some bigger pieces for added crunch and texture.
Note: Toasting the nuts will bring out their nutty flavor even more. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re using raw macadamia nuts, but I still do it even if they’ve been roasted already.
Add cooled melted butter, eggs, light corn syrup, honey, and vanilla extract to a medium mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Whisk together sugar, flour, and salt in a small bowl and add it to the liquid mixture. Beat again until completely incorporated.
Spread the toasted and chopped macadamia nuts to the slightly cooled par-baked pie crust. Pour the filling over the nuts, allowing it to settle and fill all the spaces in between.
Bake at 350°F until the filling is set and only slightly jiggly in the middle. Allow to cool before serving.
More baker’s tips
- Use store bought pie crust to cut down preparation time. But I highly recommend homemade crust, it is very easy and much tastier. You can always make multiple batches of pie crust and freeze it for later.
- You must allow the pie to cool before cutting into it to let the filling set. But it is amazing when served slightly warm, I prefer all my pies served warm though.
- Serve it with a dollop of coconut whipped cream, a scoop of coconut ice cream, or vanilla ice cream.
Storage
If you’re planning to serve this Macadamia Pie within 1 – 2 days, keeping it at room temperature is fine. But if you’re planning to keep it any longer, cover and refrigerate, it will last up to a week.
FAQs
You can substitute a gluten free pie crust, either store bought, or use gluten free all-purpose flour to make the pie crust. You’ll also need to switch out the small amount of flour in the filling with a gluten free option.
This type of pies, similar to pecan pie, has a very sweet filling. It is made up of almost all sweetener and eggs to set. I haven’t tested it with reduced sweetener so I can’t guarantee the results. You could try to reduce the amount of brown sugar or skip it to make it less sweet.
I recommend serving it with coffee or tea, unsweetened, to balance it out if you’re on the fence. But also, it is not meant to be serve in a huge slice. Moderation is key here.
More recipes with macadamia
- Coconut Macadamia Chocolate Chip Pizookie
- Macadamia Snowball Cookies with Brown Butter
- Hawaiian Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut and Macadamias
- Tropical Cinnamon Buns with Coconut and Macadamia Filling
- Macadamia Coconut Croissants
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📖 Recipe card
Macadamia Nut Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (200 g)
- 2 rounded tablespoon granulated sugar (31 g)
- ¼ rounded teaspoon kosher salt (2 g)
- 5 ounce unsalted butter (cold & cubed)
- 2 – 3 tablespoon cold water
Filling
- 2 ½ cup macadamia nuts (toasted and roughly chopped, 337 g)
- 2 oz unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup light corn syrup (332 g)
- ⅓ cup honey (115 g)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (dark or light brown, tightly packed, 57 g)
- 1 tablespoon flour (9 g)
- ½ rounded teaspoon kosher salt (5 g)
Instructions
Toast the macadamia nuts
- Toast the nuts in a large skillet over medium heat for 3 – 5 minutes until lightly brown and fragrant. Transfer the toasted nuts to a cutting board, allow to cool and chop roughly for the filling.
Make the pie crust
- Add flour, sugar and salt in a small mixing bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Transfer flour mixture to a food processor fitted with the dough blade. Add cubed cold butter to the flour mixture, pulse several times until butter is about pea and bean size. Variations in size are okay.
- Turn the food processor to “on” position and drizzle cold water over the dough mixture through the water hole, as soon as the dough starts to pull together turn the food processor off. You may need to stop the food processor in between and get a spatula to mix up the flour at the bottom.
- Turn the dough out on the counter or cutting board, and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Par bake the pie crust
- Take the disk of pie dough out of the fridge and roll into a circle about 2” larger than your pie dish. Use extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter and roller.
- Carefully place the dough over the pie dish, lightly press the dough into the bottom and side of the pie dish, let the excess dough hang over the side. Trim the excess dough leaving just enough to fold under and create a fluted edge.
- Cover the pie dish with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated, or freeze (preferred), for 15 – 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Remove pie crust from the freezer and dock with a fork to create steam vents on the bottom of the pie dough and on the sides.
- Place a large piece of parchment paper over the frozen pie dough, place pie weights on top or pour dry beans on top to fill the whole pie crust. Make sure the parchment is large enough to cover the edges of the crust entirely.
- Place the pie dish on a large baking sheet. Bake pie crust for 25 minutes with pie weights or beans, then carefully remove the parchment paper along with the pie weights and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Remove the pie crust from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool slightly. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.
Prepare the filling
- Add cooled melted butter, eggs, light corn syrup, honey, and vanilla extract to a medium mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Whisk together sugar, flour, salt in a small bowl and add it to the liquid mixture, beat again until completely incorporated.
- Add the toasted and chopped macadamia nuts to the slightly cooled pie crust. Pour the filling over the nuts, allowing it to settle and fill all the spaces in between.
- Place the pie dish on a baking sheet and cover the edge with a pie shield or thin strips of foil. Bake for 65 minutes until the middle is just slightly jiggly, tent the pie with a large piece of foil at the 50 minute mark to prevent over browning.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving.
Notes
- Try brown butter instead of regular melted butter.
- Replace some of the macadamia nuts with coconut flakes if you want an even more tropical flavor.
- You can replace part or most of the corn syrup with honey.
Nutrition
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Kristin
I have been trying to use up ingredients in my pantry before we move to Phoenix next summer. I love to bake, so my pantry is ALWAYS fully stocked with loads of baking ingredients. Today’s ingredient “offload” included some coffee glazed macadamia nuts which I wasn’t sure what to do with. When I googled dessert recipes with macadamia nuts, this macadamia nut pie was one of the first things that popped up. I have to say, what a FABULOUS twist to the traditional pecan pie. And the coffee glazed macadamia nuts that I had on hand gave it a nice little change up as well. Thanks for posting this recipe!
Trang Doan
Thank you so much for trying this recipe, Kristin! The coffee glazed mac nuts sound amazing, I love coffee, what a delicious twist to this pie 🙂
Sandra
I made this and followed the directions step-by-step, and my end product looked nothing like the photos. I pulled it out of the oven fifteen minutes before it was done cooking because it over browned so much. Also the filling was cloyingly sweet – nowhere near a balanced sweetness like in other mac nut and pecan pies I’ve tried. Unfortunately this one was a bust for me. I will continue my search for a mac nut pie recipe.
Trang Doan
Sorry the pie didn’t work out for you. A tips for when pie browns too much is to tent it with foil, also oven temperature variations could be an issue, not every oven is the same. Thanks for giving it a try, Sandra.
Sarah Clark
5 stars because it looks so good! planning on making this for Thanksgiving, but I need to make it gluten free for one of the guests. I assume a gluten free pie crust is fine, but what gluten-free flour should I substitute with? Thank you for any advice!
Trang Doan
I’ve never made a gluten free pie crust before but I’ve used all-purpose gluten free flour before in other recipes. You can try either Bob’s red mill or King Arthur.
Shantala
I buy gluten free frozen pie crusts from sprouts. But if you want to make by scratch, maybe try coconut flour since they focus on that tropical flavor with macadamia nuts
Maureen
This looks delicious! I need to find my bag of macadamias I bought at Costco a few months back-they are here somewhere!
Marie
Macs are my favourite nut and I love candied macadamias. This is all that goodness in pie form. Love it.
Trang Doan
Thanks so much Marie!