Butternut Squash Pie

Well , I know I want to share with you a Squashes life story , from beginning to end. I know It's not necessary to do so for the recipe , but It really gives me a real appreciation for the squash that made it.

Lets recap , Last winter I bought a end of season squash at Walmart , in an act cherishing , I kept it around till may , when I split it , sets its seeds away and ate it in soup.

Those seeds , I threw in my neighbors tiny yard patch (she told me I could plant whatever I wanted there). Out of those seeds grew about a half dozen , squash plants.

I uprooted 3 of those plants against recommendation to attempt to transplant them at my new house , 2 of the plants died.

1 plant thrived beyond compare with anything else , towards the Fall it had created 6 Little Perfect Butternut squashes.

This is the second squash from that batch. It's seeds have been preserved for next year as well.

I took this squash and I made it into pie.

My friend HighDesert posted a pumpkin pie recipe from the
Back of A Can of Libby's plain Pumpkin pie puree. As follows :

3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 can (12 fl. oz) evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9" deep-dish pie shell

Basically you mix it all together. The label says to mix the sugar, salt and spices in a small bowl. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Stir pumpkin and sugar-spice mix into eggs. Gradually stir in the evap. milk.
Pour into pie shell.
Bake at 425 degrees for15 min.
Reduce temperature to 350 degrees.
Bake 40-50 min more, until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool 2 hours on rack.

Of course , I would mess things up and change it a bit , but i am impressed.
I didn't have pumpkin , but I did have a fat butternut squash (a few to be honest)
while this recipe was for ONE pie , I made 2 from the ingredients. (cause I had 2 pie crusts)

Instead of a can of pumpkin puree , I just cut up a butternut squash , de-seeded it , set it in a roast pan (w/ a tight lid) with aprox 4 cups of water and left it at 350 for a couple of hours.
When I removed it , I just peeled away the skin , It was very wet , so I set it in a strainer.

Then I mixed it just as above , all i changed was the cloves , I didn't have any so I just used allspice instead , I also used brown sugar vs reg sugar. My husband said i was silly after I had mixed it all up , he said you are supposed to blend the butternut squash and press it to get rid of the excess liquid , but I had not.

determined not to be undone by this error , I poured the mix into 2 pie shells and I cooked as the directions said. they were not done at the recommended time , I am sure this was because of the excess liquid , so i gave it 10 more mins and it was done , I let it set , and refrigerated it over night before trying.

I was impressed , It was not like pumpkin , but lighter , creamier and to be honest somewhat sweeter than I had expected. Instead of a brown dark toffee color it is lighter, and almost more cream than coffee color. The texture is Puffier and creamier than pun kin can ever be , and my son ate 4 pieces in one setting. Having used a regular frozen pie crust , i think It would be appropriate to use a simple ghram crust next time to blend the lighter flavors better.

You try it and tell me won't you. I don't think the butternut size really matters as long as its a good sized one , not a tiny one.

Have a blessed day my friends.