Dry beans or pie weightsI used about 1.5 lbs dry beans
Filling
2ozunsalted butter
2tspfresh thyme leaves
¾cupmaple syrup
½cuppacked brown sugar
1tspvanilla bean paste
1tspsalt
3eggs
1 ¼cupchopped walnutstoasted
14oz 60% dark chocolate barroughly chopped
Coffee Whip Cream
1cupheavy cream
2-3Tbspmaple syrupdepending how sweet you’d like it
1tspinstant coffeedissolved in 1 tsp warm water
1tspvanilla bean pasteor extract
Pinchof salt
Instructions
Begin by preparing the crust. In a large bowl whisk flour, sugar, and salt until combined. Add in cold butter and toss to coat the cubes in flour.
Using your hands, fork, or pastry cutter, cut the cold butter into the flour mixture, until the butter is about the size of large peas with some random smaller pieces in there as well .
Add cold water a few tablespoons at a time, gently mixing after adding. The amount of water needed will vary depending on climate, flour, etc. The dough should look shaggy, but stick together when pressed with your hands.
Transfer shaggy dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, and use the plastic wrap to press dough into a ball. Flatten into a round disk. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Roll dough out into a 13-inch circle. Transfer to a tart pan and press dough into the pan and up the sides. There should be some over hang of dough. Refrigerate 15 minutes more.
Remove from fridge, and using a sharp knife, cut excess dough off the sides. Place tart on a sheet tray.
Line the inside of the crust with parchment paper to fully cover. Make sure there is a lot of extra parchment so that you can easily remove it later. Fill the tart all the way to the top with dry beans.
Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and beans. Prick the bottom of the tart a couple times with a fork.
Return to oven and bake for 8-10 minutes more until pale golden. The bottom may puff up a bit, but it will flatten again as it cools. Let cool while you make the filling.
Reduce oven to temperature to 375ºF.
Place butter in a small sauce pan and melt over low heat. Continue to to cook, stirring constantly, until butter is a nice amber brown. Immediately pour browned butter into a large bowl.
Whisk in thyme leaves, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla and salt. Add in eggs and whisk until well combined. Stir in walnuts.
Add chopped chocolate to the bottom of the par baked tart crust. Pour walnut mixture over the crust. Spread out nuts so they are evenly disbursed over the whole tart.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until filling is puffed around the edges and the middle seems set when you gently jiggle the tart (a slight jiggle in the middle is ok!).
Let cool 45 minutes on a wire rack. While tart cools, place all ingredients for the whip cream into a large bowl. Whip until medium peaks form. Place in the fridge until ready to serve (if you do this far ahead you may just have to re whip it with a whisk just a bit before serving).
Remove tart from the pan. Let cool entirely, or serve slightly warm with coffee whipped cream.
Notes
*This pie can be made ahead and kept a room temperature. ** You can also make the dough ahead of time or use store bought for ease!