Coconut Sugar-Glazed Butternut Squash

I have fallen in love with butternut squash over the past few months and probably make it at least once a week. It's great as either a savory or sweet dish but lately I was thinking about trying out the sweet route just to switch things up. At Christmas my aunt made a delicious sweet butternut squash dish but it was loaded with butter and brown sugar so it wasn't exactly health-friendly. So I decided to try out my own version for dinner last night! I subbed the brown sugar for coconut sugar and the butter for olive oil.

It's super simple and you only need 4 things: 

1 lb cut butternut squash

2 tbsp light brown coconut sugar 

1 tbsp olive oil

sprinkle of sea salt 

Also, I have a bit of a disclaimer-- I didn't cut the squash myself! At Trader Joe's you can actually get a container of it pre-cut which makes things very helpful. I've never tried cutting a butternut squash before but I've seen plenty of chefs do it on their shows and even they say it's pretty difficult. I've been too intimidated to do it myself but maybe some day I'll work up the nerve to tackle it! 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees 

2. On a baking sheet place the squash and drizzle it with the olive oil and coconut sugar. Mix it all together with your hands to make sure each piece is evenly coated with the sugar. 

3. Sprinkle on some sea salt. I probably used about 1/2-1 tsp just to cut a bit of the sweetness. 

4. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Mine is usually done around 20 minutes but it depends on your oven. Just check to see when the squash is tender and the sugar has caramelized.

You can always add more sugar to make it sweeter if you would like but I found 2 tbsp was a good balance so that the sugar wasn't overpowering. 

Enjoy!