By The New York Times
- Total Time
- 2½ hours, plus chilling
- Rating
- 5(367)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This is a pie of exceptional delicacy. Unlike traditional pumpkin pie, no vegetal tones or stodgy finish mar the radiance of this pie, which stops just short of a custard and glows with the burnish of spice. The candied squash and ginger relish adds freshness and bite to an otherwise rich and creamy pie.
Featured in: Magical Morphing Butternut Squash
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Ingredients
Yield:1 9-inch pie
- 1¼cups/183 grams all-purpose flour
- Scant ½ teaspoon salt
- 2tablespoons/23 grams solid vegetable shortening, chilled
- 5tablespoons/71 grams cold unsalted butter, in 5 pieces
- 1large egg, beaten
- 2large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
- 1½teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½cup/100 grams dark brown sugar
- ¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1½teaspoons ground ginger
- 1½teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 1½cups/355 grams roasted squash purée (see note)
- 1¼cups/295 milliliters heavy cream
- Whipped cream, for garnish (optional)
- ¾cup finely diced peeled butternut squash
- 1½tablespoons finely diced lemon peel (cut from thin lemon slices)
- 1½tablespoons lemon juice
- 3tablespoons sugar
- Scant ½ teaspoon salt
- 2tablespoons finely diced candied ginger
For the Crust
For the Filling
For the Candied Squash and Ginger Relish (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Make the crust: Combine flour and salt in food processor bowl, and pulse. Remove lid, scatter vegetable shortening and butter over surface, and pulse 5 or 6 times.
Step
2
Combine beaten egg and 3 tablespoons ice water. Pulse liquid into dry ingredients, continuing until mixture is evenly moist and dough looks curdy, about 10 seconds. Turn onto work surface, and press firmly into disk, adding drops of water if dough feels dry. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or overnight.
Step
3
Roll dough into 15-inch round on lightly floured surface, about ⅛ inch thick, and fit into shallow 9-inch pie pan. Trim and crimp edges, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour. Meanwhile, place large pizza stone on lowest rack in oven, and heat at 425 degrees for 1 hour. (If you don't have a pizza stone, you can go without. It can help prevent a soggy bottom crust.)
Step
4
Line chilled pie pan with aluminum foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake on pizza stone for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake until crust dries out and crimped edges begin to color, 3 to 5 minutes. Lower oven heat to 300 degrees.
Step
5
While crust bakes, prepare filling: Combine eggs, vanilla, sugars, salt and spices in food processor, and process until smooth. Add squash purée, and process until smooth. With machine running, pour in heavy cream, and process to combine.
Step
6
Scrape filling into hot prebaked shell, and bake on pizza stone for 20 minutes. Turn the oven up to 325 degrees and continue baking for another 20 to 25 minutes until filling is set two-thirds of the way in from the perimeter and the center still jiggles, about 40 to 45 minutes total (custard will continue to cook after pie is removed from oven). Tent edges loosely with foil if browning too quickly.
Step
7
Meanwhile, prepare the candied squash and ginger relish, if using: Combine squash, lemon peel, lemon juice, sugar and salt in small bowl, and stir well. Macerate 30 minutes. Turn into small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until tender and liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Add ginger and mix well.
Step
8
Remove pie from oven, and cool to room temperature on rack. Garnish with whipped cream and the relish, if desired.
Tip
- To make roasted squash purée, heat oven to 400 degrees. Trim the stems from 2 butternut squashes (3½ to 4 pounds each), and then cut through them horizontally, where bulb begins. (Reserve bulbs for another use.) Cut squash necks in half lengthwise. Slice into 1-inch sections, coat with 1 tablespoon grapeseed or other neutral oil, and place in a single layer on a sheet pan. Bake until tender and beginning to caramelize, about 40 minutes. Cool slightly, remove skin with a paring knife, and force flesh through a food mill. You should have 2⅓ to 3 cups purée. (It will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 days, or in the freezer up to 2 months. Bring to room temperature before proceeding.)
Ratings
5
out of 5
367
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Cooking Notes
TR
Unnecessarily labor intensive approach to squash puree. Instead: stab squash with knife and roast whole in 400 degree oven until softened through, about 45 min. Scoop out, discard seeds, mash with fork. Honeynuts are sweeter than butternuts.
Lynda
Hello CPR. I don't own one either, but I do bake my pies in a Pyrex pie plate, or in a large ramekin. The extra thickness helps for even cooking and preventing burning. If the exposed crust looks browned enough, then re-cover the crust with foil. I think your burning may be attributed to not "...turn[ing] the heat down to 300 degrees after 25 minutes." I have made butternut pies for years, because I am allergic to pumpkin, and they always turn out perfect and delicious.
CPR
Did anyone bake this? I followed and ended up with a black burnt crust and a raw inside by following the cooking times and oven temps. Way less time needed to cook crust and way more time needed to cook filling. Bummer!!!! (Not that anyone reads this since no one responded to my earlier query, thus purchased a stone) Double Bummer!!!!
Mackenzie
Reduced cream to 3/4 cup and omitted white sugar. Fantastic! Great flavor and texture. Well spiced.Used my own crust recipe, so this review is just for the filling.
Liz
Great. Except that is not this pie.
emcee
I used a pre-made gluten-free gingersnap crust (Midel). I used 2 eggs only and substituted canned evaporated milk for the heavy cream. I had some leftover filling and baked in ramikens. Really delicious. Didn’t use a pizza stone.
John Bower
A lot of steps, but it did make a delicious pie. We pretty much doubled the spices cause we like a really favorable pie. Came out great!
Amy
This was a little too sweet but otherwise perfect. Maybe cause I used Kabocha squash and only a half a cup of cane sugar.
cooking tips
Try with easy graham cracker crust first
Chibouste
For the crust I used the one from the NYT Brandied Pumpkin Pie recipe and it was easy and beautifully flaky. Baked according to those directions so no pizza stone, etc. The filling is amazing, really delicious: it manages to be creamy and decadent but not heavy. The only thing I will change next time (and there will be a next time) would be to use a deep dish pie dish since the filling is very runny when you fill the pre-baked crust and was right up to the tippy top. It requires a steady hand!
Debra
I did not think this pie was worth the intensive labor and time it took to prepare. It really didn't set, was too sweet and the crust was a bit hard. I did like the fluffiness of the butternut squash though. Definitely not as dense as pumpkin
me
1.5 the squash filling, 2.25 squash 3eggs3yolks
Matt H
For finishing the squash puree, is there any reason a masher/string device wouldn't work instead of a food mill?
try with roasted garlic and smoked paprika and sesame seeds! Yum!
I used a 13 oz can of unsweetened coconut milk instead of cream, cut the crust, and, voila, it’s vegan!
SpringPansy
Delicious! (I've been a big proponent of Libby's canned pumpkin, so easy, so consistent, but this was really good.) Cut squash in half and roasted earlier in week when oven on for other stuff. Used 2 eggs plus only 1 egg yolk, decreased nutmeg to 1/4 tsp, used half and half in pace of cream. Loved it. Didn't bother with pizza stone directions. (I failed with this crust - butter all melted out and turned rubbery--probably my fault. Will just use my classic Joy of Cooking crust recipe next time.)
Mifo
Delicious, made with a butternut - first time not using tinned pumpkin and it was worth it. Did not change a thing in this recipe and was spot on, took a little longer to bake in my little old oven.
John Kovalic
Terrific recipe. My crust came out a tad heavy, but I don’t often make a homemade crust, so I was happy with it (now to figure out ways to improve my crust technique). The custard was wonderful. Fantastic use of all the butternut squash we’ve got.
nLI
Haven’t used traditional pumpkin in pumpkin pie since I first used butternut squash. It’s amazing. Bake whole as someone suggested, which I do several at a time for soup, freezing, etc. Freezing the pulp allows for more pies all winter.
Kirill
The recipe says that 1.25 cups of flour equals to 183 grams. For example a pie dough recipe uses 1.25 cups of flour but says it’s equivalent to 150 grams. An ounce is pretty big of a difference
David
I don't understand the cooking time for the blind bake. I do mine for ten to fifteen minutes and it's fine.
Lorette
You will love eating this pie with its relish!grateful reading these comments and added one of my own from my Mother.You may cook the squash any which way to scoop out puree..I dont know all the types of squash, but I read Honeynuts are even sweeter than my butternuts..You dont need a 'pizza stone' if you use a Pyrex pie plate, or the like.. & just Prick the pie crust in pan with a fork all over, so it wont air-bubble-up-out-of-shape, and then you don't need dried beans or pie weights.
Jim Migliorini
There’s a lot wrong with this recipe. It absolutely doesn’t need a pizza stone. I used it, but general physics applies here. I like the relish a lot, but might tweak it with some cardamom. As for the pie recipe, perfectly fine, except if there was less cinnamon, maybe none, just ginger and a touch of cardamom and nutmeg, less vanilla and all white sugar instead of brown, I think I very orangy pie would be had with great flavor. The pic is deceiving, but orangy flesh would be cool.
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