Butternut squash crumble pie, vegan and creamy

WARNING: This crumbly creamy vegan butternut squash pie will make you overeat. But in a good way.

We're not a big fan of butternut squash or pumpkin – we'd eat them, but we wouldn’t go looking for them on purpose.

Oh, how a humble crumble pie can change everything.

We made this pie after we made our satisfying apple crumble mini pies. Those little weirdos were the main character(s) of our sweet dreams for weeks. It was like, they were One Direction and we were going in that same direction. Obviously the last few days we've been taking poetry classes, but we've also been looking for a new crumbly friend.

“Apples are gone, what else can we use in this awesome crust?”

Then our eyes met. That butternut squash has been sitting there over a month now. The butternut squash knew it. It was time.

We took a knife, halved the butternut squash, peeled it, removed the seeds, chopped it into million pieces and boiled it. This was the hardest thing we've ever done. That squash is not simple to peel or cut in half. But so worth it.

That filling. OMG. Who knew it’s possible to make something so creamy and satisfying out of something that looks (AND TASTES) like baby food (pureed butternut squash)?

This filling is heaven.

It’s spicy, sweet enough, but not overly sweet and did we say CREAMY?

The magic of the filling in this pie is in the coconut oil and coconut cream. When they’re both in there – creamy creamy creamy.

And if you think this filling will be falling apart and not being able to hold still, because you haven’t used any eggs or anything else (aside from 1 tbsp oats) to thicken, you our friend are adorable, but wrong. You know how coconut oil and coconut cream get solid when they’re left in the fridge? We’re using science here. Or common sense.

Key here is to let the pie cool for at least 6 hours in the fridge after you bake it. We don’t know who’s working at those unhuman temperatures in the fridge, but it must be someone called Miracle, because in 6 hours that guy seems to turn baby food into the creamiest filling ever.

If you try the filling 1 hour after it’s baked don’t expect it to be creamy. Also don’t expect to actually like it.

However if you taste the pie the next morning for breakfast – which we did 3 days in a row – you won’t be able to stop eating. That texture is notable.

We have to be honest about the spices though – we added a little too much clove for our taste in this pie.

Okay, we have to say – we hate cloves. Why? When we were a first-semester biochemistry student we had this course in organic chemistry and us and a friend had to isolate a chemical called eugenol from cloves. For weeks the only thing we smelled were cloves, so many of them. Cloves everywhere. We started hating their guts! In the end it all worked out, but till this day when we smell cloves we think of organic chemistry. Mmmmh.

That clove however didn’t stop us from eating a whole pie by myself in 3 days (don’t judge).

This butternut squash crumble pie is vegan, you can also make it gluten-free if you use gluten-free oats. And we're pretty sure you can also make it without all the baking – just skip the baking part.

We just like the crust crispier and crumblier.

Health Benefits

As far as health benefits go, we’ve got only good stuff here – carotene from the butternut squash, fiber from the oats and the dates, healthy fats from coconut oil to absorb the catorenoids and let’s not forget the little bit of anti-inflammatory ginger and cinnamon we’re using here.