The butternut squash is roasted, pureed, cooked down with brown sugar and mixed with the rest of the ingredients and used as filling. The filling is made from two different kinds of milk, whipping cream, and condensed milk. The crust is a super flaky butter and shortening crust I have been using for years but originally from King Arthur’s Pie Crust recipe that pairs perfectly with the filling. Of course, this is best served with a nice dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you are looking for a different pie recipe this year, try this one. Yes this is more work that using canned pumpkin but I really enjoy making this and it taste amazing! If you do not feel like roasting and pureeing your butternut squash, replace that with one 16 oz can of pumpkin puree and repeat all the steps (yes including cooking the puree down with sugar).
Butternut Squash Pie
Pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving must but ofcourse wanted to switch things up by using a butternut squash.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/2 cups 180 grams all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons 46 grams shortening
- 5 tablespoons 71 grams unsalted butter, frozen
- 4 to 5 tablespoons 58 grams to 71 grams ice water
Filling
- 3 cups pureed butternut squash about 1 whole butternut squash
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- Pinch of ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
- 3 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 3/4 cup – 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
To Serve
- Whipped cream
- Ice cream
Instructions
Make Pie Crust
- Whisk dry ingredients into bowl (flour and salt).
- Add in shortening and mix until mixture is crumbly.
- Using a box grater, grate the butter using the large holes into the flour mixture, and work it in roughly with your fork, hands or a pastry cutter or a mixer. The butter will be evenly distributed but will be in visible pieces which is good.
- Add 3 tablespoons of water and toss until mixture starts coming together.
- Add up to 2 more tablespoons of water if necessary but dough should be crumbly but still come together.
- Shape dough into a disk and cover in plastic wrap.Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- When ready to roll out dough, remove for 15 minutes prior to rolling, and roll into a 12-inch circle for a 9-inch pie. For reference, this is my deep (ish) 9 inch pie dish: Click Here
- Line your pie plate, place in fridge while making filling.
Make Filling
- Roast butternut squash: Cut your butternut squash into quarters, removing the seeds and discarding or saving to use in another recipe of to roast for a snack. Drizzle oil on your butternut squash, and bake cut side up at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes or more until it is done. You want the butternut squash to be very soft and easily poked with a knife.
- When your butternut squash is ready, let cool and peel, removing the skin of your swum and leaving the flesh.
- Place your butternut squash in a blender or food processor and pulse until very smooth.
- Measure out 3 cups of butternut squash and set aside. If you have leftovers, you can use this to make a number of other dishes.
- In a pan, add your butternut squash and brown sugar, cook on low heat, stirring consistently until the water from the squash evaporates, is reduced significantly in volume and get thick and dark. You want to cook it down as much as possible into a thick paste. This usually takes me about 30 minutes.
- Set aside and let cool completely before continuing.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a bowl mix together your butternut squash and sugar paste, egg yolk, eggs, condensed milk, cream, vanilla, salt and ground spices. Whisk until very smooth and pour in prepared pie crust. Add 3/4 cup of cream first and if filling is too thick, add another 1/4 cup of whipped cream. The amount of cream varies based on how much you cooked down your butternut squash. Filling is too thick if it can’t be easily poured or if it holds its shape (i.e. it is too thick it the pie filling needs to be smoothened flat, as opposed to just setting into a flat surface).
- Bake for 50-60 minutes in preheated oven, or until the custard is just set. The edges of the custard will puff up a little and the centre should still have a little wiggle to it.
- Let cool for at least 2 hours and serve at room temp or chilled. Pie tastes just as good the next day. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator. Serve with whipped cream of ice cream.
