I make an almond or pecan crust. I just grind the nuts fine in the processor, mix with some sugar, butter the pie dish heavily and pack the sugar and nuts in. Par bake for 10 minuites to toast the nuts and melt the sugar before filling.....why wouldn't that work with pistachios?

That sounds, great, Linda! Thank-you! That's the kind of thing I was thinking of like a cracker crust, but I love the toast the nuts while melding.

Yum - that sounds delicious. Maybe a mix of pepitas and pistachios? I do try to toast nuts before making recipes. I often forget (when planning the time to make something) but it makes such a difference in flavor.

Here's my recipe. I don't remember where I got it from to give credit.

* 2 cups nuts

* 1/4 cup brown sugar

* 2 Tbls butter, melted

* 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

* pinch of salt

1. Line bottom of pan with parchment.

2. Pulse nuts in food processor until finely ground.

2. Add other ingredients; combine.

3. Press into prepared pan.

Crust is not pre-baked before filling.

This caught my eye mainly because I love pistachios and raspberries.

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/raspberry-tart-pistachio-crust

Plllog when you mentioned 5 spice included in the filling … did you mean Chinese 5 star spice. I’d never thought to use this for a sweet dish but then again I guess it might work. Or maybe you mean 5 other spices?

Neely, I'm not sure if you meant five spice or star anise. I meant five spice as below:

Chinese five spice: (From Wikipedia)

• Star anise (bājiǎo 八角)
• Cloves (dīngxiāng 丁香)
• Chinese cinnamon (ròuguì 肉桂)
• Sichuan pepper (huājiāo 花椒)
• Fennel seeds (xiǎohuíxiāng 小茴香)

I don't like (or maybe am overloaded with) local ”pie spice” smells and flavors. Mom's Apple Pie (my mother's actual recipe) just has a light amount of Vietnamese cinnamon, and is superb, but I want things to be different from each other. I've used five spice in other things, and the components in a lot more (different balance).

For my roast pumpkin chocolate crust pie, I use a Penzey's North African blend (currently called ”Ethiopian”) which I never would have come to on my own, but absolutely adore, sweet or savory, along with some smoked Spanish paprika and extra Ceylon cinnamon: cayenne red pepper, garlic, ginger, fenugreek, cardamom, cumin, black pepper, allspice, turmeric, cloves, Ceylon cinnamon and coriander. Notice cinnamon and cloves run through both, so it's not that far off. The little bit of heat is pleasant, but I think it's the fenugreek in the Ethiopian blend that really makes the pie, if only in the scent. But I adore fenugreek and it may not send others into the raptures tgat it does me. I don't typically use aliums in sweets, but all the spices are fair game. ;)

Thanks, Mxk3, Chloebud and Bbstx, for the alternative recipes! All are better than the ones I found searching online.

Good question about the color! Considering that the pistachio crusts in pictures are beige, if it's only green(ish) on the outside, I'll be happy. So, I'd been thinking spumoni green, not really spinach, and just checked some pistachio ice cream recipes, worried that the color was commercial food dye. The only really green one was Epicurious. It had a higher pistachio to dairy ratio than most of the pale ones, but about the same as the beigest. Of course ’net photos aren't true color and they may be washed out by flash. Linda's version gets the toasting done in the prebake, which I like, and not much to dilute the color, so I think I'll try that one first.

I like Agmss's suggestion of the pepitas mixed in for color, and will try that next.

Thanks, everybody!