Squash Cinnamon Roll Pie

This post is for Jas and Englebert.  Thanks for reading my blog!

I was going to the boyfriend’s mom’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.  I made a pumpkin kabocha (a type of squash) pie last year, the same one that my mom’s been making for ever.  I wanted to put a twist on it and I’ve been eyeing the cinnamon roll crust that keeps popping up on Pinterest, so I thought I’d give it a try. I made the crust from scratch instead of using a pre-made roll-out-and-bake crust.

Check out the verdict at the end of the post!

Squash Cinnamon Roll Pie

Cinnamon Roll Crust

Adapted from here and here.

Ingredients

¾ cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup pastry flour

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup + 2 tablespoons butter, frozen

1 large egg yolk

3 Tablespoons ice cold water

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

Directions

1.    In a large bowl, whisk flours, sugar, and salt.

2.    Grate frozen butter into flour mixture, and work it in with a pastry cutter.

3.    In a small bowl, mix yolk, water, and lemon juice.  Add to flour butter mixture and mix until the dough starts coming together.  Turn out onto a work surface and fold and press crumbly pieces into the dough mound.

4.    Roll dough out to a rectangle 1cm thick.

5.    Mix cinnamon and both sugars, and sprinkle over dough.

6.    Roll dough to make a log.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or overnight.

7.    When ready to make filling, cut log into slices and press into a pie dish.  Keep in fridge while making filling.

Cinnamon sugar sprinkled over dough.

Dough rolled up.

Sliced and pressed into pie dish.

Squash Pie Filling

Ingredients

2 eggs

¾ cup brown sugar

*2 cups of mashed squash (I used kabocha, but I’m sure it will work with butternut squash, acorn squash, or pumpkin)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground clove

½ teaspoon freshly grated ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup milk

½ cup light cream

*I steamed the cut up squash then hand mashed them.

**This makes enough filling for a standard pie plus 1/3 - 1/2 cup extra.  I baked off the extra in a separate dish and ate it with a spoon.

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2.  In a bowl, beat eggs.  Add sugar, mashed squash, cinnamon, salt, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg and beat.

3.  Add milk and cream, beating after each.

4.  Pour into pie shell and bake at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes.

5.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for 45 minutes.  Center will be a bit jiggly, but will set as it cools.

6.  Cool before serving.

Kabocha being steamed.

Before baking (leftover on the left).

After baking.

Verdict: Great twist on a pie I’ve been eating for years!  You can definitely taste the cinnamon.  Everyone at the dinner loved it! I’m thinking of trying butternut squash next year.