Squash & Honey Pie

Yesterday in Boston, the air was steamy. Summer, it would seem was not quite ready to unclench its muggy grip from us. I love summer, barbecues and sunshine that lasts until 9pm? Who doesn't like it? But there is a romance, and a wistful quality to Autumn that I find irresistible. I was determined to make this Autumn, the first in our new home, not just my favorite season because of the impossibly blue sky and the chilly nights, but because of the warm home and - yes the delicious, seasonal food (this is a food blog, after all) With maybe the exception of spring asparagus, I think Autumn has the strongest, most wide reaching grip on seasonal food. When the nights dip low into the fifties, and the maples burn red, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone not thinking of apple cider, roast pork, and pumpkin...well, pumpkin anything, really...

To usher in the my favorite season, I decided I needed a pie. The quintessential sweet of fall, is of course, the pumpkin pie. But I wasn't quite ready for pumpkin. I had received some honey from my Aunt, direct from her hive of bees, that I wanted to incorporate it in to the filling as a sweetener. I wanted something a little different...something not so spicy, and more fresh tasting. (this is the beginning of the season, after all) Acorn squash was the answer I came to. Martha had even written a recipe I could use as a guideline. I was in business.

The recipe that you can find here, gave me a great jumping off point, (corn meal crust??? Yes!) but I didn't follow it. I wasn't about to make mini pies, lest I eat a whole one. Roasting these squash (which I did the night before, while roasting vegetables and fish for our dinner) gave them plenty of softness, and a depth of flavor I appreciate. The filling gets a kick from cinnamon and orange zest, as does the sweetened cornmeal crust. Pie crust is one of the rare moments in baking when I feel comfortable winging it. So I do. My squash were enormous, so I used two beastly sized specimens, If you don't have such prolific squash, use three smaller ones.

Acorn Squash & Honey Pie


For the Crust:

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup stoneground cornmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick of unsalted butter, dice into cubes and chill

1 egg yolk, mixed with about 1 tablespoon of ice water

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

more ice water as needed, added by the tablespoon.

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl with the butter, using a fork (or your fingers!) until none of the lumps are larger than a pea. combine the egg and water with the zest and stir into the crumb mixture. Knead in the bowl until the dough is well incorporated and forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill until its time to roll out the dough.

For the Filling:

2 large acorn squash, (or three small ones)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspon fresh grated ginger

1 teaspoon orange zest

4 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup honey

egg wash

To Create the Pie:


Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides (set some seds aside to dry on a paper towel, if you are anything like the man). In a 375 degree oven, roast the squash until its fork tender, (my large squash took almost one hour, but smaller ones should take about 40 minutes.) Let the squash cool to the touch, then scrape the orange fruit from the skin (an ice cream spade worked especially well for me) and whip in the large bowl of a mixer until smooth. Add spices and zest. whip some more. Add eggs, milk, and honey. mixing to thoroughly combined. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll out your chilled dough to about 1/8" thick. I like to do mine on a flexible cutting board, then flip it over into the pie pan. Brush the inside of the pie dough with egg wash.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. pour the filling into the crust and bake for 35 minutes, or until the middle of your pie is just barely set, The heat it carries over will finish it for you.