Monday, November 28, 2011

Pie!

Alright, for Thanksgiving, instead of pouring pumpkin out of a can to make a pie, I make one out of butternut squash.  It's just like pumpkin, but smoother and *bonus* I can get the butternut fresh from the garden.  
Recipe (1 pie):

1 lg butternut squash pie (1 1/2 cups)
1 c brown sugar (firmly packed)
3 lg eggs (slightly beaten)
3/4 c evaporated milk or half & half (recommend the latter)
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger

1/4 t cloves
1/4 t salt
2 T flour
1 T melted butter
1 t vanilla

Side notes on ingredients: You can play with the spices quite a bit, I use less cinnamon, more nutmeg and a little less ginger and cloves.  All spices are ground.  Also, more vanilla never hurt anyone :)

Prep:

Cooking squash: remove step, slice lengthwise, scoop out seeds.  Place cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with foil and brushed with oil.  Bake at 400 for 45 min - 1 hr (easily pierced with a fork)

Remove the tray from the oven, reduce heat to 350 and allow the squash to cool.  Put the cooked squash through a food mill.  Combine it with the remaining ingredients in the order listed using an electric mixer (or really resilient arms).

Baking:

Fill the uncooked pie crust & bake for at least 45 min, should be firm in the center when done.  Use foil or a pie shield to keep the crust from burning.  

Crust:

 Use whatever pie crust recipe you like, use pre-made if you want.  But if you're looking for a good, flaky crust, try using lard instead of butter or Crisco.  If you're going to eat something fattening, you may as well go full out.

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

Yum, looks good :-)

Chasing Freedom said...

Yeah, and I make homemade whipped cream - nothing fattening here, promise!

Old NFO said...

Um... sure... sure... :-) I already gained 3 lbs, but I'm copying those recipes down :-) Thanks!!!