Pumpkin Imposter

Did you know that Butternut Squash makes better pumpkin pie than pumpkin does?  There are folks out there that swear by this.

Darwin likes pie...

This week I took two roasted butternut squash and made them into a pie.  I used the fresh pumpkin pie recipe from Pick Your Own.  I ran it through the blender to make sure that the squash was not stringy in any way.  It says that it will be a very thin batter but will firm up and it does.  It actually makes a very good fluffy pie.  If I did it again I would cut down the amount of evaporated milk to one can.  The recipe filled up a full deep dish pie pan with a cup or so left over.

I also had about a cup and a half of mashed butternut left.  I hate to waste stuff, so I made bread.

I started with a real recipe, but I changed it so much it is unrecognizable....  Here is what I actually did.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups mashed squash
• 1.5 cups left over pumpkin pie filling
• 1/2 cups vegetable oil (I subbed applesauce for some of the oil called for in the original recipe and knocked it down some because the pumpkin pie filling seemed to count as a fluid)
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 3 cups white sugar (the original recipe called for 4 cups of sugar so I decided to knock it down and add some honey instead)
• 3/4 cup honey
• 5 eggs
• 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt



All that is left after 2 days...

• 1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients: squash, oil, apple sauce, sugar, honey, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spice; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.

The bread is great.  It made 3 loaves (one has already been given away).  Do not be afraid to mess with recipes.  You can makes lots of different substitutions to suit what you have on hand.  Be brave.

If you really want to do something with a pumpkin, check this out: How-To-Brew-Pumpkin-Beer-in-a-Pumpkin-in-20-Easy-Steps.  It's pretty cool.