The pumpkin pies are done!  But, to quibble, I feel the need to point out that they are not pumpkin pies.  They are butternut squash pies.

Thanks to my involvement in a terrific CSA, I learned years ago that good pumpkin pies… aren’t.  In fact, often the canned pumpkin that one buys in the store is not pumpkin either.  There are a lot of advantages to making pies with butternut squash rather than pumpkin.  First, it just tastes better.  Also, it has a much better texture – no stringy stuff! I don’t even process or mash the squash.  It is the perfect texture for pies simply by roasting the squash for an hour and scooping out the innards.

And here the pies are, below.  Those of you with eagle-eyes will note that the crusts are not homemade.  I admit it, while I simply can not bring myself to make a pumpkin pie with canned pumpkin, by the same token I simply can’t see making a pie crust from scratch.  First, I don’t like to do it, and second, I don’t see a difference in taste, mainly because I suck at making it.  (Bad Foodie!).

I make up for it by adding cream cheese to the pie, making a really nice cross between a pumpkin pie and a cheesecake.

Recipe (makes 2 pies):

• 20 ounces cream cheese
• 28 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 2 packed cups roasted butternut squash
• 5 eggs
• A pinch of salt, and cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger to taste (I say to taste because I really load it up on the cinnamon, and most people would not use as much as I do).

Bring all ingredients up to room temperature, making sure that the cream cheese is very soft.  Blend cream cheese until smooth.  Slowly add 14 ounces of milk, blending to ensure smoothness.  Add the rest of the milk.  Add squash, then eggs.  Spice to taste.

Pour into prepared pie shells.  I used one regular pie crust, and one graham cracker pie crust.  Be warned, you very well may have extra mix left over.  I throw the leftover in ramkins or a small baking dish and bake it up for a crustless pumpkin pie-like snack.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes.

Butternut Flan

It’s that time again – time to dig through your pantries and probe your creative cuisine imagination to come up with the perfect dish for the virtual cooking parade that has become know as “Is My Blog Burning”.

I wasn’t so sure that I was going to participate in the event this month. I have been out of town for a while, and wasn’t really inspired to come up with a clever Is-My-Blog-Burning-worthy recipe. But I took a look at it again yesterday and realized that Ladygoat, from Foodgoat had come up with a theme that I could really handle. Orange. Not orange the food, necessarily, but orange, the color.

This would work perfectly for me. You see, belonging to a CSA, I get bombarded in the fall with butternut squash. Butternut squash is a richer, more flavorful substitue for pumpkin, and I use it all the time in place of pumpkin for cooking and baking. But you can only make so much “pumpkin” pie, bread, muffins, cookies, etc, in the fall before you get tired of it, so I end up freezing a lot of it.

For this Is My Blog Burning, I pulled out a pack of the frozen squash and whipped up a Butternut Squash Flan. It took very little time, effort or work, and the end result was really fantastic.

I’ll be adding this recipe to my “pumpkin” repetoire of fall menus, that is for sure!

1 2/3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 cups butternut squash puree
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups heavy cream

In a small skillet combine 2/3 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. continue to cook and stir until it is a deep caramel, Pour it into individual-sized ramekins, tilting them to coat the bottom evenly, and let the caramel harden.

In a bowl beat the eggs with the remaining 2/3 cup sugar, beat in the squash puree, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cream, and pour the custard into the ramekins. Set them in a deep baking pan, add enough hot water to the baking pan to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan, and bake the flan in the middle of a preheated moderate oven (350 degrees F) for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the flan cool and chill it, covered, overnight. Run a thin knife around the edge of the ramekin, invert a plate over the ramekin, and invert the flan onto the plates.