Oh boy - today I'm sharing a recipe for Zucchini Pie! It's very different and very retro. I'm not sure if I can even call it retro it's such an old recipe. This one comes from my other grandma's recipe book, and it looks old. Never mind that she always wrote her recipes into her favorite old church cookbook - her VERY WELL USED old church cookbook. Since she wrote out the recipe in her own handwriting, I would like to think she maybe made it for my Gramp. This is a photo of him in the early days with her two younger brothers. He liked pie - well, he liked sweets in general - so I know he would have liked this pie. How cute is this? They are definitely all decked out in their Sunday best!

181

Gramp also liked cars, and we have several photos of him where he's standing in front of a car! When I saw this recipe in her book, I have to say, I was quite intrigued. How weird is that? I've heard of zucchini pie before, but I think they were usually of the savory variety. This one said to bake it like apple pie, and with the amount of sugar in it, it had to be a sweet one - plenty sweet! Ha! My daughter grew this zucchini and ended up with a few that were the size and shape of a small zeppelin, so why not? This was the perfect time and reason to give it a try!

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Zucchini Pie

Make a double crust pie crust, roll out both crust, and put one crust into a pie plate.

Cut as for apple pie (sliced):

6 cups zucchini squash

Pour over squash:

Boiling water - enough to cover

Let stand 5 minutes.

Mix together:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons flour

Layer squash with sugar mixture in pie pan.

Dot with:

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1 Tablespoon water

Top with second crust and crimp the edges.

Bake on a baking sheet (in case of overflow) as for apple pie - 400 degrees for 30 minutes, turn down to 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Right off the bat I have to say that this zucchini looked weird - like it had been cross-pollinated with a regular squash or something. The flesh was orange and very hard - usually zucchini is green.

I sliced it thin and let it sit for 5 minutes. I expected it to be softer. It wasn't. I let it sit for another 5 minutes. Still not soft. I let it sit while I got everything else ready to go, then I decided to just go for it. I mixed up the sugar mixture and started layering.

There is a lot of sugar mixture here. I really didn't think it would all go in there, but it did. It will. I made a mental note to bake this on a baking sheet in case if overflowed - it was so full!

Butter, lemon juice, and water will help make it a bit juicier.

On goes the second crust, egg wash, and a sprinkling of sugar on top. Now, into the oven!

It is hard to see here, but it did overflow. I'm VERY glad I used a baking sheet under it. The LAST thing you want to mess with is this juice all over the bottom of your oven.

Wow. I think this worked!

My family loved this unusual pie. It's different, not exactly like apple, but good. If you have a few zeppelins, I mean zucchinis, laying around under the vines in your garden, you might want to give this a try. It would be a nice one to serve at your Thanksgiving celebration, too. People would have a difficult time trying to figure out what this pie is made of. Someday I'll have to try it with what might be a normal zucchini (this one was weird). I highly recommend trying this Zucchini Pie if you need a new way to use those large zucchinis.