The pie that didn't win the day

As some of you may know I live in the middle of nowhere. Let me illustrate this more clearly. My neck of the woods just got a Walmart two years ago. We are slow up the uptake to say the least. So it's not surprising that this summer was the first time that our community had a farmers market. Despite the fact that we are surrounded by rolling fields and an ocean and a bay full of seafood eating local is just catching on here.
 So I was super excited to go and check out everything the local vendors had to offer. My family has been lucky enough to enjoy everything from onion bagels, to bacon, to oysters for the market. This weekend I got a chance to participate in my first cooking competition at the farmers market.
 A few weeks ago I signed up for the fall pie contest. I spent countless hours brooding over how to be crush the competition with a homemade pie that incorporated fresh local ingredients. I figured most people would probably opt for apple pie so I decided to do something completely different butternut squash.
The resulting pie was the result of a lot of brain storming and recipe testing. unfortunately I didn't win but since they only announced the winner my mom keeps telling people that I came in second. She knows how to make me feel better. So here is the recipe for the pie that didn't win the day.

NOTE:The pie pictured behind mine, pie number 9, was the contest winner.

  Butternut Squash Crunch Pie 

 Ingredients: 

Single pie crust recipe of your choice pre-baked 

 Squash filling 

2 cups of roasted butternut squash 

1 cup heavy cream 

1/2 cup milk 

4 eggs 

2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

 pinch of salt

 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

 Crunch Topping 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup flour 

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 

pinch of salt 

 2 Tbsp. cubed butter 

1/2 cup chopped pecans 

 Directions

 Preheat oven to 375. 

 Mix together the cream, milk, eggs, sugar, spices, salt, and vanilla. Add the cooked squash to the other ingredients and whisk to combine. Use a hand blender or food processor to give the mixture a nice smooth texture. 

 To make the crumb topping combine the brown sugar, flour, spices, and salt and cut in the butter using either a pastry cutter or a fork. Once the mixture forms a crumb the texture of wet sand stir in the chopped pecans. 

 Pour the squash mixture into the pre-baked pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes sprinkle to crumb topping over the pie filling and bake for an additional 45 minutes.