It's a Tzimis! I love it! it'd be perfect for Sukkot!

This looks great. I must try this.

Oh, wow, this looks really tasty. Right up my alley!

I've been looking for something just like this! I was worried cranberries would burst or smush in baking - so glad to see they can work. I wonder if this would work with sweet potatoes mixed with the squash, and maybe with rosemary rather than the sweeter spices? Would the cranberries not work with that then?

This looks so pretty! the colors are fantastic. and talk about an easy side dish for the holidays...

I do a very similar dish quite often and love it. I had to change the squash out because I can't get it in my city at a decent price, but sweet potatoes are a good substitute. :)

I used to find cutting up butternut squash daunting. Here is a "simple" (or at least methodical) process for cutting butternut squash:

Using a large sharp knife, cut off the ends of the squash and then cut it though right where the neck turns into the bulb. Stand it on it's flat end and run your knife down the sides removing as little of the actual meat of the squash as you can and all the skin. Once both halves, neck and bulb, are peeled, split each in half lengthwise. Scoop the seeds out. Don’t worry about removing every last stringy membrane; it will roast off in the oven. (From http://straightfromthefarm.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/from-start/).

I am a sucker for sweet/savory recipes like this! Thanks

Yum! My parents made a winter vegetable dish one year for Thanksgiving, that involved cutting up about a zillion pounds of squash, potatoes, turnips, etc. They said it was a pain to prepare but we all loved it. :-)

I always cheat by pre-baking my butternut squash or sticking it in the microwave for a few minutes to make it easier to cut, because I once had to go to the hospital from a squash-cutting injury (yuck)...

This does look tasty. You're serving it as a side dish, right?
I think it would make a great breakfast.

Toasted walnuts sound like a nice addition, when would you add those? At the end? or bake them along with the squash?

thanks!

This looks like a nice low-effort high-flavor side dish--just what I need for the coming week!

Trader Joe's sells pre-cut butternut squash, at a more reasonable price than supermarket pre-cuts. Sure it's not THAT big a deal to chop your own, but if you're short on time (or weak in the biceps) just buy the TJ's. I always have some of the precut on hand b/c I make some variation of butternut squash for my toddlers regularly. Chopping quickly becomes a PAIN! Happy holidays everyone. Oh, and thanks Elise!

I made this for dinner last night, I just happened to have all the ingredients but wasn't planning to use them together. It was so easy (especially as I buy ready cut butternut squash)
Anyway it was fabulous I love the combination of flavours I'll make it again.
Thanks

I was just going to mention that if people live near a Trader Joe's, they sell butternut squash already chopped--I'm addicted to how easy they make it!

I made a test run of the recipe for dinner last night just approximating the ammounts (I used cut up squash from Trader Joe)and my husband and I polished off an 8X8 casserole by ourselves with a smidgen left for tonite's dinner. It was delicious. The squash took a little longer to cook than the apples so for Thanksgiving dinner when I make the full recipe, I'll cut the apples a little thicker.

I accidently used regular sugar instead of brown but it was so good anyway. Sure my family will love it too.

I suspect I'll make it for Hanukkah and/or Passover too as it is very tzimmes like.

PS The big box stores like BJ or Costco also carry precut squash (at a good price too)

Umm.. so why do you peel the skin off the squash? If you did that while living in Japan everyone would look at you really funny. Eat the peel. Its great tasting and saves you tons of trouble trying to cut it off.

If you roast butternut squash skins they are edible - especially with somthing sweet like honey and a little olive oil. Recipe look fantastic, I'll be trying it soon!

I did a pre-Thanksgiving test run of this and it was delicious. I used about half the butter that was called for and it was perfect. I do prefer sweet potatoes to butternut squash, but I'm going to keep the squash anyway, as I like the challenge of cutting and peeling it! I'm bringing it to my mother's for Thursday...

Thanks, Elise!

Does anybody cover the casserole dish with foil for the first part of the cooking. It took a long time to get the suash cooked through and I thought maybe the first 40 min or so under foil would take care of that.

Any comments?

What a winner! Looks beautiful, tastes delicious and so easy. I even used "I can't believe it's not butter" and it still tasted great. Didn't have mace so substituted five spice.

Hmmm... I'm thinking about trying this with sweet potatoes instead of butternut squash. Any ideas on whether or not that will work well? It's hard for me to find quality squash in my region at this time of the year. That, and I'm trying to come up with a creative use for those sweet potatoes, too. Looks absolutely delicious, though!

Note from Elise: You might need a slightly longer cooking time for the sweet potatoes. I might prebake the pieces for 15 minutes before adding the cranberry and apples.

This turned out to be the big surprise of the feast yesterday!

Wegman's also sells the precut/peeled butternut squash, for those who don't live near Trader Joe's.

I added a bit of cinnamon and pecans. It worked beautifully. Thanks for the recipe.

This was wonderful! I took it as a side dish for Thanksgiving and everyone wanted the recipe. It was quick, easy, beautiful and most importantly, tasted fabulous! I love your blog and all the recipes. Thanks!

I made this for our Thanksgiving meal and it was a hit! It's not just tasty, it's beautiful too. Thanks!

Sent my wife to the store to get the squash. She came back with a bag and proclaimed, "see, it's already cut up!". Great! Except that it was sweet potatoes. Had no time to run back out and get butternut squash, so just went with the sweet potatoes. Well... it was still fantastic. No one even knew, and everyone loved it.

So, if you are not up for cutting put all that butternut squash, try sweet potatoes instead.

Made the recipe again for Thanksgiving. Took care of the squash taking a little longer by putting it in alone for about 15 min., then adding apples and cranberries. A total hit. Shared the recipe with all there. It will be a holiday standby from now on.

Will try the sweet potatoes too . Can't be bad.

I tested this recipe this week and thought it was great. Making it again tomorrow. Thanks!