Do you bake pumpkin pie the old fashion way? What if I told ya that you could bake the same pie, the same way, but use cushaw, butter-nut squash, or sweet potatoes, instead of Pumpkin. And your quests will like it better than your pumpkin pie? Use your old recipe--or mine. If you grow your own sweet potatoes, butter-nut squash, or cushaw. There is one simple recipe for all 3 pies. And in my opinion, all 3 will beat a pumpkin pie. Or at least tie with it. The only thing that varies is the amount of sugar. Naturally butter nut, and sweet potatoes, won't need as much sugar, as the others. Lets make 2 nice regular pies !
1. Peel and cube what ever you are using. Do not use the stringy material. I'll say Cushaw as a example. Boil until done, and drain EVERY bit of the water from the chunks. Exactly like you do when mashing your potatoes. After its mashed, and cooled a little. Dip out 4 cups, or 1 quart MASHED squash. This isn't exact. If you got 4 1/2 cups, it will be fine. 
2. Add 1/3 to a 1/2 a stick of butter. If you use to much, the pie will be slightly greasy on top, but still taste fine. 
3. 4 eggs.
4. 1 table spoon of corn starch, heaped just a little. Corn starch, and the eggs is what makes it firm. To less of either, it will be slightly runny. To much-- it will still taste OK, but be dry. You will get the knack of it, after a few times. 
5. A lid full of Vanilla. If its a larger bottle. 2 lids if its a smaller. Intentionally spill a little. LOL
6. Table spoon of lemon juice. Imitation is fine. If you spilled extra in the bowl-- don't worry. 
7. 1 cup of milk, it don't have to be exact. 1 1/2 is fine. 
8. Put some salt in there. I generally guess at half a table spoon. A little more won't hurt.  
9. Here is where your pie is made. You can use cinnamon, apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg-- what ever you got on your shelf. Shucks-- you can use a little of all. You will be adding your SUGAR and spices in slowly, stopping, and tasting, as you do. When that pie meets what you want it to taste like. Than dip it out into those frozen shells--that you pre-baked. The pie will not change flavor in the baking. Its just going to set up firm. So get it perfect to your liking at this stage. Generally guessing, you will have NEAR a cup of sugar, 1 1/2 if you have a sweet tooth, in there. You are making it to your liking. Sometimes I use pumpkin pie spice, and tell people its my special pumpkins, that gives it the better taste, and color. LOL.
10. After its been in the oven on 350 for 40 minutes. Start checking every 5 minutes. When you see the middle raised up like the sides--its done. Most likely you won't have to check, but a couple of times. If you aren't sure how much spices you want. Dip out the first pie that is lighter spiced. Then add more spice to the remainder pie filling. Before you fill that second pie.  Ask which of the 2 pies they liked best.  PS-- I'll be very surprised, if you can fail at this. After a couple times, you will never measure ingredients again. Its dang-nie fool proof.  I rarely grow pumpkins. The vines run too long. And bore worms are attracted to them more. PS-- Fresh or frozen cushaw chunks work fine. Butter nut, and sweet potatoes will store all winter, on their own. 

At Thanksgiving one year when I belonged to a very large church, they had a thanksgiving meal at the church. I found out that same day that they wanted me to bake enough pumpkin pies for the whole thing. I bought all the canned pumpkin I could find, then bought a bunch of yams for the rest. (not sweet potatoes, but as you noted, you can use similar things.) I whipped off so many pies! Worked perfectly. I wonder if carrots would work?

I always use your trick of spilling extra vanilla into everything.

Nan

There is a recipe in my very old Chatelaine Cookbook for carrot pie - my notes indicate I made it way back, I recall it was good .......

I really, really like pumpkin pie.

But, I almost never make it, when I discovered pumpkin cheesecake.

My most popular pumpkin pie (back when I was the dessert cook, for all of the holidays) I found, that everyone requested after that first time I made it in 2008 (it was in the October issue of bon appétit). It was a butterscotch pumpkin pie, and it was a true butterscotch, with scotch in it - what made it so special! I made the same pie with sweet potatoes, as well as butternuts, and it was good with all of them.
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/pumpk ... scotch-pie

Years before there was another one that was popularized in my family by another alcohol - 1/4 c of cognac, in a 10" pie. That was on the cover of Gourmet magazine, before they went under, and I made that for a number of years, before the butterscotch one came around. There was also a huge pumpkin cheesecake that I made, to go with that earlier pie, when a lot more people were around to eat them! Haven't made that since the first part of this century! I'd have to divide it by 3, to make it now.

I have made pumpkin, sweet potato and just this year I made a butternut squash pie. They all taste slightly different and we loved them all.

Who ever thinks about nutritional info when eating pie but interestingly sweet potato pie has a LOT more carbs but potatoes have more protein, fiber, magnesium, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C than pumpkin does.

[mention]Nan6b[/mention]
Would you believe that yams (as denominated by American grocery stores) and sweet potatoes are both sweet potatoes? Stores call the soft sweet potatoes yams, and the firm ones sweet potatoes—but they're the same species (Ipomoea batatas).

True yams are from the Dioscorea genus, and aren't well-known in the USA. I believe they're more popular in Africa. I think I read somewhere that some of them can get over 100lbs! Imagine digging one of those up in clay soil. Sweet potatoes and true yams aren't very related (they're both in the Angiosperm clade, at least, though!)

My great aunt used to make one using yellow squash or patty pan squash. LOVED that pie but never managed to get a recipe some day I will just start baking and see if I can replicate it...

If you "make your own" pumpkin pie from a can, it's most likely Dickinson winter squash (C. moschata) that you're using.

A few years back there was an extreme shortage of canned pumpkin due to crop failure, so "whatever" was in the cans.

The best pumpkin pie I ever made was from the variety Winter Luxury Pie (C. pepo).

I remember my moms pumpkin pie she made from pumpkins I grew as a kid in grade school.
I wanted to grow pumpkins because of the Charlie Brown Halloween cartoon they showed every year.
The one where Snoopy was flying around on top of his dog house and got shot down by the Red Baron.
I like extra spices in my pumpkin pie, the more the better.

"What Kind Of Pie Is That?" It's danged GOOD pie, that's what it is!

I almost prefer sweet potato pie to pumpkin but I'll make it using whichever I have.