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    Squash Custard Pie

    By trkingmomoe on Mon, 11/10/2014 - 7:52pm |

    This is a little different from the traditional Pumpkin Pie but it does have good flavor.  Butternut squash does make a better pie but I was surprised how good the acorn squash turned out.  I had 2 halves left over from a meal that no one wanted.  I had baked more then one squash.  I add a maple sausage patty to each piece when baking and that makes the acorn squash a main dish.  I didn't want to waste the pudding squash so I chose to make it into a custard pie. 

    One large Acorn Squash or Butternut squash. (I used sweet pudding variety that is white and yellow, which is only available in the fall. ) Cut in half, remove seeds and place cut side down in baking pan. Add a little water and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until fork tender. Cool and scrape out squash into mixing bowl.

    One unbaked pie shell for 8 inch pie.

    ½ to 1 cup of sugar. (The pudding squash is sweet so I only used ½ cup. When all ingredients are mixed taste it to add additional sugar if needed.)

    2 large eggs

    ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

    ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger

    1 teaspoon of butter flavored vanilla extract or tablespoon of melted butter and teaspoon of vanilla

    1 cup milk

    Pinch of salt

    Nutmeg to sprinkle on top.

    Pre heat oven 375 degrees.

    In a mixing bowl add squash, sugar, egg and spice. Beat until light and blended about 1 ½ minutes. Add milk and vanilla and blend for 2 minutes. ( If you are making a 9 inch pie you will need to add another ½ cup of milk and one more egg.) Pour into pie shell and sprinkle a dusting of nutmeg on the top. Cover edges with pie shield or foil to keep from over browning crust.

    Place on bottom rack close to bottom. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. It should giggle a little in the center and a tooth pick comes out clean about 2 inches from edge. If you over bake it will later crack on top.

    All ovens are different so use the temperature that works well for your pie baking. Some find that starting with a very hot oven at 425 and baking for 10 minutes then turning down to 375 works well. Others like to par bake shell with pie weights for 5-10 minutes first then fill pie will keep the bottom from being soggy. Then baking at 375. I found that my oven does a good job by just placing the pie on the very bottom of my oven and baking give me very good bottom crust. My oven has a rack that fits over the bottom elements as well as the 2 traditional racks. I use that bottom rack.

    I usually end up with a crack in my pie but I like to make sure it is done.