Light, biscuity shortcrust pastry; sweet, gooey, chewy-on-top filling.
HEAVEN for maple- and pie-lovers.

This recipe is so absurdly, wonderfully easy (two bowls, one pie tin — that’s it!) I made it up as I went along, vaguely following Bakeaholic Mama’s recipe for Maple Brown Sugar Cream Pie.

Gather:
For the shortcrust (exactly the same as the banoffee pie crust):
250 g plain flour
125 g butter (room temp.)
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 egg yolk
20 mls cold water

For the filling:
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs melted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Then:

1. Preheat the oven to 170° C.
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2. For the crust dough: In a large bowl, sift the flour and salt together, and add the sugar.
3. Cut the butter into cubes and rub it into the flour until it’s ‘sandy’ and there are no lumps of butter left. (You could use a blender but this way is nicer.)
4. Add the cold water and egg yolk. Keep mixing until fully combined.
5. In the bowl or on a floured bench, knead the dough until it forms a smooth, single ball. (More water if it’s too dry; more flour if it’s too wet.)
6. Wrap the ball in cling wrap and leave it in the fridge to chill for about half an hour/while you prep the filling.
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7. For the filling: Stir together all the filling ingredients in a large bowl. That’s it! Find something to amuse yourself for another 28 minutes while the dough chills.*
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8. Remove the dough from the fridge and press it out into a standard-size loose-bottom pie tin into an even layer (about 5mm thick). (You could roll it out into a sheet and lay it in, but I never bother.)
9. Prick with a fork and blind bake until the surface is dry and slightly golden. (The fork-holes should negate the need for pastry/pie weights.)
10. Remove from the oven, turn the oven up to 200° C, and leave the crust (in the tin, on a cooling rack) to cool at room temp. for about 10 minutes.
11. Pour the filling into the crust…
    
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    and bake for about 30 minutes, or until it’s relatively set (it shouldn’t wobble much at all) and the surface is uniformly golden.
    
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12. Remove from the oven and let it cool to room temperature before serving. (You’ll want to dig in sooner, but be warned: hot maple syrup is about as dangerous as lava.)

 

Notes:
*Sorry, but cleaning the kitchen is the obvious time-filler here. Rule #1 of baking: Clean As You Go. If you’ve done it right, you should end up with a delicious pie and a clean kitchen.