There are few summer squashes quite as adorable as the white, scallop-edged, bowl-shaped patty pan. For years my grandfather has hauled bags and bags of them from his garden to our house, but we never knew what to do with them except chop them up and put them into soups.

This summer, however, my mom and I have had so much fun experimenting with our abundance of patty pans! We’ve stuffed and baked them with sausage and cheese—but we’ve also improvised this sweeter version, “Patty Pan Pies.”

Since we have such a large family our original recipe yields 9 pies, but you can easily halve it for smaller groups. I also use sugar alternatives, but feel free to experiment with real sugar if you prefer it.

Ingredients:

9 patty pan squashes

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons Truvia (or you can experiment with your preferred sweetener)

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted (plus a little more for brushing the patty pans)

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/4 cup maple syrup

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry the patty pans, then slice them in half and discard the tops. Do not peel. Carefully spoon out the center of each bottom half, removing the seeds but being careful not to tear the undersides. You want them to look like shallow bowls. Brush each “pie” with a little coconut oil or butter and lightly sprinkle with Truvia (or sugar), cinnamon, and just a dash of salt. Bake the patty pans on a large cookie sheet for one hour.

While the patty pans are baking, prepare the stuffing. Mix the flour, cinnamon, Truvia (or sugar), and salt; add the raisins, walnuts, and oil and stir until everything is nicely coated (I did use my hands for this part). Then carefully fold in the blueberries and maple syrup. It should look (and smell!) like a streusel topping.

Remove the patty pans from the oven after one hour and fill each “pie” with the stuffing. Return them to the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the stuffing is a nice golden brown. Enjoy with one last drizzle of maple syrup!    

All the featured images in this article are courtesy of Maribeth Barber and used with her permission for Cultivating and The Cultivating Project. 

Maribeth Barber

Maribeth Barber is a small-town Southern girl captivated by stories, the beauty and love of her Savior, and the power of the contemplative, Christ-centered life. During her years as a homeschool student, she developed a fierce love for history, literature, and film; these passions inspired her debut novel, Operation Lionhearted, as well as her blog, A Writer’s Tale, where she reviews books and movies from the angle of the Christian imagination. A hobbit at heart, she lives with her parents and six of her eight younger siblings on their hobby farm in Louisiana.

maribethbarber.com