This Sweet Squash Pie recipe is wonderful and tastes almost like pumpkin pie and can be made with or without the crust. You can make this with pumpkin if you want a traditional Thanksgiving dessert.
Overnight Preparation Time
If you are including the optional millet crust, you may want to start soaking the millet the night before you want to make this dessert (soak for 8 – 12 hours and see instructions at the beginning of the recipes section). The dessert then takes 45 minutes to an hour to cook the squash (you can make the optional millet crust while the squash is cooking) and 30 minutes to prepare and bake.
Servings: 6 – 8 slices
Pie Filling Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked, mashed kabocha squash (butternut is also an option)
- ½ cup water
- Sweetener options: 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup raw honey or 10 Medjool dates
- 2 tablespoons kuzu
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Optional Pie Crust Ingredients
You can skip this step entirely, if you like, because this recipe tastes great without a crust and can still be made in a pie dish and served like pie. If you do want a pie crust, use these ingredients:
- 1 cup soaked millet
- 2 tablespoons raw butter, ghee or coconut oil
- 2 cups water
- 2 teaspoons raw honey (optional)
- 2 teaspoons cardamom
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Directions
To Make the Squash
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- To keep it simple, wash the squash and prick it several times with the tip of a knife to create holes where heat can escape during baking.
- Place the squash in a baking dish with 2 inches of water in the bottom and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or when you can insert a knife easily into the squash.
- Remove from the oven, allow the squash to cool and then cut it in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Then scoop out all the cooked squash.
To Make the Pie Crust
If you do want a crust, here’s how to make it:
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil.
- Add millet and turn heat down to medium, cooking until the water absorbs into the millet and the millet becomes more translucent (with no hard yellow spots in the grain).
- Turn off the heat and add raw butter, ghee or coconut oil and honey.
- Add spices and sea salt and mix thoroughly.
- Allow to cool, then transfer into a greased pie dish (the glass Pyrex pie dishes work really well and are a great non-toxic baking option).
- Firmly pack the millet into the pie dish so that it is . inch thick and goes up the sides of the pie dish a bit.
- Cook the millet crust for 10 minutes. Then take out and add the squash filling.
To Make the Filling
- In a saucepan on the lowest heat on your stove top, dissolve kuzu in water (Kuzu can be purchased in your health food store or online. Kuzu is a starchy vegetable root that is revered in Japan and is used as a natural thickening agent in cooking. To dissolve the lumps completely, keep stirring while the kuzu thickens.
- Add pureed squash, natural sweetener and spices.
- Fill the piecrust, if you choose to use a crust, and bake for about 25 minutes at 350°F or 300°F if using a glass pie dish.
- If not using a crust, put the squash in a greased pie dish and bake for approximately 25 minutes at 350°F (or 300°F if using a glass pie dish).
- Cool before serving
Download or Print the Complete Thanksgiving Menu with the Entire List of Recipes
Most of these recipes can be prepared 2–3 days before serving to make your kitchen time easier and give you more time to connect with friends and family on Thanksgiving day. Remember to ask your loved ones to pitch in and your guests to bring one of these side dishes! View the Complete Thanksgiving Menu…
Latest posts by Heather Dane (see all)
- Listening to Your Gut and Heart - April 24, 2019
- Breaking Through Resistance: Following Creative Energy - April 16, 2019
- Love Intuition: Follow the Energy to True Love - April 10, 2019