Maple Hazelnut Pie

This is not the first maple recipe I've done since my business/pleasure trip to Quebec, and it sure isn't my last, but it is definitely the one I've been most looking forward to.  I have a very limited supply of maple products from the family operated Cabane à Sucre, so to make it last forever, I've decided to use it in holiday desserts.
I'm not a buche person.  Don't try to convince me using words like "tradition" because buche has never ever been part of my tradition.. and the ones that have were gross.  You might as well just eat butter by the spoon and top it with sugar.  That's what buche tastes like to me.  Last year I made Cinnamon Rolls and nobody missed their beloved buttery buche.
Back to the pie.

There are very few ingredients in this pie, so it is essential to use the best quality you can find.  My maple syrup is authentic hand crafted and purely organic.  If you use store bought, make sure you use pure and the darkest you can find.  Light tends to be thinner, and you don't want a runny pie.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (35 cL) pure maple syrup

1 cup (23 cL) heavy cream

1/4 cup (30g) corn starch

1/4 cup cold water
30g powdered hazelnuts (optional)

That's all folks!

Directions

1.  Whisk together the water and the corn starch, then add the powdered hazelnuts.  There shouldn't be any lumps.  Set aside.

2.  In a saucepan on high heat, whisk together the maple syrup and cream, then add the corn starch mixture.

3.  Bring to a boil while stirring continuously.  Boil for 2 minutes while stirring.  It should thicken.

4.  Pour into a cooked pie crust.

5.  Refridgerate until set.

The photo above is after having just poured the hot filling into the hot crust.  There will be a long waiting time before we can dig in.
I checked after about 3 hours, it should be ready.  To be on the safe side, do as I did and give yourself at least 6-7 hours just in case.

Oh dear this was too much for me to handle.  I couldn't quite finish my piece.  I don't think I'm cut out for real desserts.  Too rich, to sweet.. too much.  The scoop of vanilla ice cream was bland next to it.
In the future, I'm going to stick to cookies, muffins, and sticky buns.

I was expecting it to have the texture of pumpkin pie, but it was a instead a gooey texture kind of similar to pecan pie without the pecans.  It's not a texture I appreciate much and it was just toooooo sweet.  I'm disappointed in this dessert.  I don't think the addition of hazelnuts made it worse.  If you're into overly sweet things like this, I'm pretty sure it's a winner.. but even sugar pie is not this sweet, and this one is sugar free...

The crust was delicious though!

**update
I changed my mind.  This pie gets better the longer it sits.  Make it 2 days ahead of time if you can, and serve very very small slices.. definitely not the size of slice pictured above.
In bite size pieces and on a relatively empty stomach, this pie is a gift from heaven.
Just don't eat it after a huge heavy holiday meal.. more as an afternoon snack.
I finished every last crumb of this beauty.  If I do make it again, I'll add an egg and bake it with the filling so the texture will harden a bit.