Blue Hubbard Squash Pie

Here it is as promised... the Blue Hubbard Squash Pie!  Easy as pie!  Each time I make a pie I think, that really was easy as pie.  A truer saying couldn't exist, pies are really so simple to make.  My dad is a the pie master.  He usually makes a big batch of pumpkin and sweet potato pies each Fall.  He also use to turn out quite a few blackberry pies, I have more bad memories of those.  He would send my brother, sister and I out into wild blackberry fields with 10 gallon buckets, in the Texas heat.  Yea, 10 gallon buckets, like the ones paint or dry wall mud come in.  He would then spend a whole weekend making pies and jam.  It makes me laugh now to see blackberries in the grocery store for $5 a pint.  The thought of paying for blackberries is funny to me.  

For this pie I used a basic pumpkin pie recipe and just substituted the squash.  I made one with half-and-half and one with soy milk for my little allergy boy.  He gets a whole pie.  Well this is actually a test pie to see if all my non-dairy friends are lying to me about how soy milk is so replaceable with real milk.  I can't seem to tell the difference too much with the soy.  The dairy pie has a slightly more creamy consistency and a barely noticeable richer taste.  The flavor of the pie is of course quite similar to pumpkin, but the squash has a much more subtle flavor. All in all a decent way to use up a huge squash.

Blue Hubbard Squash Pie 

Pie Crust - I used Pillsbury prepared crust, you can obviously do one from scratch too. 

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch of ground cloves

Pinch of salt

2 cups fresh squash puree 

2 cups half-and-half, whole milk or soy milk (dairy free option!)

To prepare the squash; peel and cut into small cubes.  Boil the cubes till fork tender.  Cool and puree in a food processor.

Pre-bake the crust, 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven.  Mix all the ingredients well.  Place pie shells on a cookie sheet.  Fill hot pie shells with pie mix.  Cover crust with tin foil to avoid too much browning.  Bake for 50-60 minutes at 375 until firm but still jiggles in the center.  The squash seemed to need to bake longer than a standard pumpkin pie, it was very shaky after 40-50 minutes.  Remove the tin foil from the crust for the last 10-15 minutes to complete the browning.  Cool pies on cooling rack and serve warm or chilled with whipped cream. 

Out-take (below):  The pie the cat ate.  Those are little tongue marks on the corner of that pie.  Last year she stepped in a pumpkin pie, maybe she should permanently move to the neighbor's.  Grrr.