On Saturday’s live Q&A, Malia said she would share her mom’s “pumpkin” pie recipe–which has a secret ingredient. Well, here it is!
The secret is that there’s no pumpkin at all–the recipe uses fresh butternut squash instead. You’ll never know it’s not a pumpkin pie except that it’s the best-tasting pumpkin pie you’ve ever made.
🥧🥧🥧 JoMom’s Pumpkin Pie: 🥧🥧🥧
1 deep-dish pie crust. I make my own but you can use a frozen crust. Make sure it’s deep dish! Or you’ll need two crusts.
1 smallish butternut squash
12 oz evaporated milk (1 can)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 C dark molasses
1/2 C brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
splash of brandy
Peel, seed, and cube the butternut squash (or just buy it already cubed and raw… Trader Joe’s has it seasonally). Steam or microwave the squash until it’s quite soft and can be pierced easily with a fork. Cool.
Heat oven to 425. Bake the empty pie shell for about 8 minutes, until it is set but not browning, and cool. You can use pie weights if you have them. I don’t.
Set oven to 325. Measure out 2 cups of squash, loosely packed. Place squash, evaporated milk, sugar, molasses, eggs, salt spices, and brandy into a blender and puree until smooth.
Pour the pureed mixture into the parbaked, cooled crust. Bake at 325 for ~45 minutes or until set in the middle. Cool completely and serve with real whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or whatever you like. Excellent eaten for breakfast.
You can pour any extra puree into small, greased, oven-safe dishes (such as ramekins) and cook separately as mini crustless pie bites. They will not take as long to cook, so check often. I usually get about 2-3 extra mini pies from this mix.
Enjoy it! ~ Malia
(Image credit: me! These are my own pies from this recipe. This is an adaptation of the “pumpkin or squash pie” recipe from the 1964 Joy of Cooking. Adaptations by my mother, JoAnn.)
