Butternut Squash Bake

Ode to Autumn
 Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.

That poem was penned by John Keats; and had he tasted my butternut squash bake, he may have indeed wrote a poem about that too.

I found this recipe in the Taste of Home Annual Recipes from 1995 on pg 51. It was a submission by Julie Jahn, from Decatur Indiana.

This recipe was easy to make and as a fore mentioned, delish. I took my butternut squash and peeled it. I like peeling butternut better than say, acorn squash because acorn squash has all the ridges and valleys that are hard to get the skin off of. Anyway, I digress. After I had peeled the squash then I cut it in half and scooped out the seeds.Those seeds did not want to come out and I ended up with a shower of them on my kitchen floor in my gusto to get them out. Oops! Well, nothing a broom can't handle.

Once the seeds and the tendrils that held them in place were removed, I cut up my fleshy gourd and put it in water to boil. Like when you are making mashed potatoes, except that were not.

While the butternut boiled I put butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and creamed it together. Then I added eggs, evaporated milk and vanilla.

By that time the squash was done. I drained, and them mashed it up. Then I added it to the other ingredients. The recipe mentioned that the mixture would be thin, and it was.

I poured the mixture into an 8x8 pan that was sprayed with cooking spray and put it into the oven at 350 degrees to bake.

Then I turned my attention to the topping. The topping consisted of rice crispys, brown sugar, chopped pecans and 2 tablespoons melted butter. I chopped the pecans and combined the rest of the ingredients. Forty five minutes later the squash was almost set. I added the topping and put it back into the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

What came out was heaven on a spoon. So delicious and creamy. My family loved it, and I enjoyed making it. This dish will definitely grace our table again.

If you would like to make this dish in your cooking district, here is the recipe.

Butternut Squash Bake

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1, 5oz can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups mashed cooked butternut squash (about 1 medium sized squash)

Topping

1/2 cup crisp rice cereal
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons butter or margarine melted

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, milk, vanilla. Stir in squash (mixture will be thin). Pour into a greased 11x7x2 in baking dish. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until almost set. Combine topping ingredients. Sprinkle over casserole. Return to the oven for 5-10 minutes or until bubbly. Yields 6-8 servings.