Butternut Squash Kugel Pie

What's a kugel, you ask?

"kugel" is a German word, meaning ball or sphere, but when referring to a kugel in Jewish cooking (Yiddish, a dialect descended from German), we are referring to a baked pudding or casserole, sweet or savory.

When I was a kid, my grandmother made a delicious carrot kugel for the holidays (think sformato in Italian).
A beautiful orange colored pudding made in a ring mold. I loved it.

She also made a potato kugel, a squash kugel and a noodle kugel.

Just to confuse you more, we had kugelhopf, a round cake studded with raisins.

Then she made an apple kuchen.
That's not a kugel, that's a kuchen. That's another story, for another day.

Here, I made her butternut squash kugel. A simple baked vegetable pudding, nice and sweet, light and fluffy like a souffle, but it could also be called a pie or a cake, because there is flour in the mix, just to make it more confusing.

Call it what you like, but I call it GOOD.

If you are still confused, think sweet potato pie.

Butternut Squash Kugel Pie: (my grandmother's recipe)

2 cups of cubed butternut squash (about 1 large butternut squash)
4 tbsp butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/3 cup of golden raisins

In a large, heavy skillet, cook the butternut squash on low heat in the half stick of butter for about 15 minutes with lid on, until softened.

Remove to a bowl and mash until pureed.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and pour into a buttered Pyrex 9" pie plate.

Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes until top is cracking and golden.

This would be a great Thanksgiving dessert!

My grandmother would've been proud. Enjoy!