Shoofly Pie Recipe

Pies are an unlimited part of Pennsylvania Dutch Nation custom: Inside the area spherical northeastern and south central elements of Pennsylvania along with the Delaware Valley, which is the place my family comes from, chances are you’ll uncover freshly baked pies at markets, farm outlets, Amish reward retailers, and makeshift stands alongside the side of the freeway. There are fruit pies, custard pies, cake pies, and milk pies. Walnut and snitz (dried apple) pies. Savory corn, parsley, and hen pot pies. And far and lots of whoopie pies, which aren’t really pies the least bit. Nonetheless nothing is type of as well-liked as shoofly pie which, as chef Betty Groff remarks in her 1990 Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbookhas obtained to be the “best-known pie” from the realm.

What Is Shoofly Pie?

Shoofly pie is definitely a molasses pie that’s topped with a cinnamon-spiced crumble. Part of the crumble sinks into the pie steadily as a result of it bakes, making a cake-like layer inside the middle with a gooey molasses bottom. The remaining crumble turns right into a crisp, powdery topping, and the result is a confection that delivers sticky, cakey, and crunchy layers in each chew. Though you’ll generally see shoofly pie on dessert menus, significantly at Lancaster County’s well-known smorgasbords, many Pennsylvanians take note of it a breakfast pie. (Outdated cookbooks, along with Edna Eby Heller’s 1966 The Dutch Cookbookdescribe the pie as “good for dunking” in a cup of morning espresso.)

In his 2013 e guide As American As Shoofly Piehistorian William Woys Weaver notes that shoofly pie first appeared on the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the place it was referred to as Centennial Cake. The establish “shoofly pie” appeared lots later; though its quirky establish is often attributed to the act of “shooing” bugs away from the sticky-sweet dish, it doable stems from the once-popular mannequin Shoofly Molasses Co., which in flip reportedly took its establish from “Shoofly the Boxing Mule,” a circus act that toured Pennsylvania inside the late 1800s. (In truth, there’s a good probability that Shoofly the mule took his establish from the act of shooing flies, taking the establish full circle.)

There are fairly just a few variations of shoofly pie. The 1969 Amish-Dutch Cookbook by Ruth Redcay choices 4 shoofly pie recipes, each varied barely inside the amount of sugar, flour, and syrup to offer pies with completely totally different textures. Equally, Heller’s The Dutch Cookbook consists of three variations. “There is a shoo-fly pie to swimsuit every type,” Heller writes. “Dry, moist, and in-between.” Dry shoofly pies normally mix among the many flour topping into the molasses for a additional cake-like consistency all by means of, whereas the moist ones—which might be commonly known as “wet-bottom” pies—have a satisfyingly gooey molasses layer on the underside.

The recipe I’m sharing beneath is for my favorite variation: a wet-bottom shoofly pie, which has a thick layer of molasses nestled between the cake and crust after it’s baked, along with a crumbly topping for numerous layers that work fantastically collectively. Proper right here’s make it.

5 Recommendations for Making Shoofly Pie

Rub shortening into the sugar and flour for the topping. One of many easiest methods to prepare the crumble topping is strictly what it seems like: rubbing flour and fat collectively until crumbly, merely as you’d for shortcake. This coats the flour with fat and limits gluten enchancment for a fragile topping and a lightweight, cake-like middle layer. You have to use a pastry blender for this step, nevertheless I need to make use of my palms, which allows me to get a higher actually really feel for the scale of the shortening and ensures the crumble has a breadcrumb-like consistency with no big chunks of fat remaining. (Small strands or pea-sized objects are OK.)

For the crumble elements, I’m a fan of the sturdy style of darkish brown sugar, which includes additional molasses than gentle brown sugar and gives the pie an rather more molasses-forward style. You probably can, nonetheless, substitute with gentle brown sugar for a subtler tasting and lighter-colored pie. I exploit vegetable shortening to prepare the topping, as that is what most Pennsylvanians use, nevertheless cubes of chilly, unsalted butter or lard will work merely as successfully.

Chill the pie crust—and skip the blind bake. Most likely essentially the most unfortunate points that will happen when making pie is a crust that shrinks as a result of it bakes, leaving you with an disagreeable, naked rim throughout the pie plate. In my recipe beneath, I title for chilling the crust for on the very least an hour, adopted by a quick freeze. This permits the gluten to loosen up and prevents the crust from contracting as a result of the pie bakes. Freezing moreover ensures that the dough stays chilly when it’s accessible in touch with the current molasses filling, lowering the possibility of the current filling melting elements of the unbaked crust and making a soggy bottom as a result of the pie bakes.

To verify the crust is crisp and appropriately cooked, many open-faced pie recipes instruct bakers to blind bake the crust sooner than pouring inside the filling. Typical Pennsylvania Dutch “moist bottom” pies, nonetheless, normally do not embrace a blind baking step. As a substitute, cooks start baking the crammed pie at about 400ºF or 204ºC, sooner than lowering the temperature halfway by way of. This affords the crust a head start and ensures it’s appropriately cooked, whereas the lowered temperature in route of the highest of baking helps to set the filling.

Use true molasses. Molasses is on the market in two varieties: true molasses and blackstrap. Whereas blackstrap is bitter and salty, true molasses is smoky, bittersweet, and barely acidic. I wish to advocate making shoofly pie filling with true unsulphured molasses. (Sulphured molasses is normally made with inexperienced sugarcane; producers usually shield the sugarcane by treating it with sulfur dioxide sooner than the ingredient undergoes the sugar extraction course of. Unsulphured molasses, nevertheless, is usually made with ripe sugarcane that’s ready for processing and is not dealt with with sulfur dioxide.)

Because of I keep inside the UK, the place molasses is simply not as accessible because it’s inside the US, I moreover examined with shoofly pie with darkish corn syrup, which did not fare successfully. Because of corn syrup is thinner than molasses, it isn’t ready to withstand the load of the crumble. The topping, in consequence, sinks to the underside too quickly, creating an excessively cakey filling.

Corn syrup moreover lacks the deep caramel notes of molasses, so the pie’s style was one dimensional and saccharine. With that in ideas, I do not advocate using merely corn syrup, nevertheless whenever you’d like a lighter, sweeter pie, you probably can change among the many molasses with corn syrup in your filling. For individuals who go that route, I wish to advocate altering 25% of the molasses (55 grams in my recipe beneath) with corn syrup.

One different ingredient I experimented with is treacle syrup, which is barely sweeter and thicker than molasses. Though the two syrups aren’t equal, treacle is normally used inside the UK to comprehend a equally sweet and smoky style in recipes like gingerbread or gingersnap cookies. My treacle test produced a deliciously rich, darkish, and bittersweet pie that was comparable ample to molasses to make it an excellent substitution when you’ve entry to it and want to play with the recipe.

Bake the pie on a rimmed baking sheet. Besides you want to spend a day scrubbing sticky molasses off the bottom of your oven, I strongly advocate you bake your pie on a rimmed baking sheet. (Don’t ask me how I do know.)  A baking sheet means that you would be able to change the unbaked pie from the kitchen counter to the oven with minimal sloshing. Nonetheless additional importantly, it should protect your oven from the current syrup that will bubble and ooze as a result of the pie bakes.

Let the pie cool appropriately. Though its gingerbread scent is partaking, do your biggest to resist slicing scorching shoofly pie. The filling models as a result of the pie cools, so it’s important to attend until it reaches room temperature. (It’s OK if the underside nonetheless feels barely warmth, nevertheless no more than that, in any other case you will find yourself dealing with a liquidy mess.) It’s a true test of willpower, nevertheless successfully properly well worth the wait.

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