You'll Never Guess What's in This Pie

I'm bringing back an earlier post to link to Love the Pie at Tidy Mom--thanks for visiting!


We have a saying in my family, dating from when my grandmother was alive. "You'll neeevvver guess...(who I saw today; what I had for lunch; who called me;) (fill in the the blank).

Well, I made a new pie this weekend--one I've never eaten or seen before, and had never even heard of it until recently. I was a bit skeptical about it, right up until I smelled it and tasted it.

And you'll neeevvvver guess what's in it.....

Navy beans!

You read that right. And it's a sweet pie; light and custard-y and smelling of the best fall and holiday spices. And guess what else I found? Navy beans aren't the only beans you can make into pies. I found recipes for pinto beans pies and Great Northern bean pies, too. Some of them are made similar to pecan pie, with beans substituting for nuts; others are made of mashed beans; but if navy bean pie is any indication of what the others will taste like, I can't wait to try them, too!

My first task in my journey to bean pie was finding navy beans with a minimum of seasonings. Believe me, for a sweet pie you don't want beans flavored with salt pork or bacon. I thought I was going to have to cook dry beans, but I finally found a canned variety that had only salt and water as an added ingredient. Even so I drained and rinsed them well before I used them.

Ingredients:

• 1 c cooked navy beans
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c evaporated milk
• 1/2 stick (1/4 c) butter
• 1 T flour
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1 c sugar
• crust for a single crust pie

I started with my favorite pie crust--Pillsbury Ready Crust, found in the refrigerated section--let it sit out for about 15 minutes it will unroll better, then place in your pie dish.

Place the beans, butter (the recipe didn't say melted, so I just cut mine in small chunks), eggs, milk, and seasonings in the blender and blend.

The recipe I used then stated to pour into a mixing bowl before adding the sugar, but I didn't see the point of dirtying up another dish, so I just added it to the mixture in the blender and blended it all together for a few seconds, then hit pulse once or twice or three times for good measure.

Pour into your uncooked pie crust. At this point, it smells (and tastes!) a little like eggnog--and what's not to like about that??

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. I set my timer first for about 50 minutes--it was beautifully browned and pretty by then, but I could tell the middle wasn't set, so it for me it did take pretty much the whole hour to bake.

Doesn't it look pretty? And trust me, it smells so good---it shouts fall and holidays and all the good smells of baking, all rolled into one.

I did wait for it to cool well before cutting into it, but it was hard!

If I had never tried this for myself, I don't know if I would have ever believed it, but now that I've smelled and tasted of navy bean pie, I think I'll try some of the others, too!

For more recipes, please see the links at:

Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace

Tuesday at the Table at All the Small Stuff

The Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom

Foodie Friday at Desgins by Gollum

Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!