Strawberry Vanilla Pudding Pie with Oat-Nut Crust

With amazing deftness I managed to cram three recipes into one dessert last weekend. I hereby present record to you of a fantastic Strawberry Vanilla Pudding Pie with Oat-Nut Crust.

First make the press-in crust:

Oat-Nut Crust from The New Laurel's Kitchen

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 Tbls water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400F. 

Blend oats and walnuts in blender or food processor until the mixture is floury, with only a few visable oat pieces. turn into bowl and mix in water and salt (try just 2 Tbls water at first, and add the third only if needed to hold the dough together). Press into 9" or 10" pie tin and bake just 10 mins. 

Next, make the pudding:

Vanilla Pudding also from The New Laurel's Kitchen

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 Tbls cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1 tsp vanilla

Gently heat 1 1/2 cups of the milk in a heavy pan. Stir in the sugar and salt. 

Combine the cornstarch or arrowroot with the reserved milk. Add to the milk when it is very hot; cook and stir over low heat until thick.* If you are using cornstarch, continue to cook and stir over very low heat for a few minutes more. (If you want richer version, you can stir in a beaten egg into 1/2 cup of the pudding, then beat that into the whole pudding while it is still very hot.) Cool somewhat and add vanilla. 

Makes about 2 cups. Good warm or cold.

And finally, combine and add fruit!

Berry Pudding Pie yup, still from The New Laurel's Kitchen

Fill a prebaked pie shell or crumb crust with 3 cups or so of fresh blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries or sliced peaches. Pour Vanilla Pudding over them while it's still warm. Sprinkle with toasted nuts if you like, and chill. 

If you have fruit too pretty to hide, fill your pie shell with pudding and let it cool slightly. Arrange sweet berries or slices of ripe, sweet peach, kiwi, or apricot on top. (You can prevent the sliced fruit from turning brown by dipping it orange juice.)

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A few comments:

First:  since my daughter is allergic to peanuts and any nuts purchased at the store may have been cross-contaminated with peanuts I was careful to rinse the walnuts before I used them for the crust (I set them out to air dry after washing them, so I wasn't added extra liquid to the crust).

Second:  since the oats are being ground down anyway, I used my stash of Quick oats instead of my nice rolled oats.

Third: I don't understand the directions about only adding 2 Tbls of water to the crust. I ended up using more like 6 Tbls of water all told before my crust would stick together. But maybe it's a case-by-case thing.

*Fourth: Have you ever made non-instant pudding before? I hadn't and I was amazed that it was as easy as it was. However, initially it wasn't setting for me and I was frustrated until I Googled about using cornstarch as a thickener. It's essential that you keep the heat high after adding the cornstarch. Don't reduce the heat until after it's started to thicken. I think the recipe's directions were a little misleading in that regard so I'm noting it in my cookbook for the next time (because you know I'll forget).

Fifth: Yum. This is good stuff.