Shoofly Pie Recipe

Pies are a large part of Pennsylvania Dutch Nation custom: Throughout the area spherical northeastern and south central components of Pennsylvania along with the Delaware Valley, which is the place my family comes from, you’ll uncover freshly baked pies at markets, farm outlets, Amish reward retailers, and makeshift stands alongside the facet of the freeway. There are fruit pies, custard pies, cake pies, and milk pies. Walnut and snitz (dried apple) pies. Savory corn, parsley, and rooster pot pies. And lots and lots of whoopie pies, which aren’t really pies the least bit. Nonetheless nothing is type of as widespread 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 mainly a molasses pie that’s topped with a cinnamon-spiced crumble. Part of the crumble sinks into the pie often 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 typically see shoofly pie on dessert menus, significantly at Lancaster County’s well-known smorgasbords, many Pennsylvanians give it some thought 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 (Outdated cookbooks, along with Edna Eby Heller’s 1966 The Dutch Cookbookdescribe the pie as “good for dunking” in a cup of morning espresso.)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 information 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 known as Centennial Cake. The establish “shoofly pie” appeared so much later; though its quirky establish is often attributed to the act of “shooing” bugs away from the sticky-sweet dish, it seemingly 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 reality, there’s a good likelihood that Shoofly the mule took his establish from the act of shooing flies, taking the establish full circle.)

There are fairly a couple of variations of shoofly pie. The 1969 Amish-Dutch Cookbook by Ruth Redcay choices 4 shoofly pie recipes, each numerous barely inside the amount of sugar, flour, and syrup to produce pies with fully totally different textures. Equally, Heller’s The Dutch Cookbook incorporates three variations. “There is a shoo-fly pie to go nicely with every type,” Heller writes. “Dry, moist, and in-between.” Dry shoofly pies generally mix quite a few the flour topping into the molasses for a additional cake-like consistency all via, whereas the moist ones—which can be generally called “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 quite a few layers that work beautifully collectively. Proper right here’s the way in which to make it.

5 Concepts for Making Shoofly Pie

Rub shortening into the sugar and flour for the topping. Probably the greatest methods to arrange the crumble topping is exactly what it looks as if: 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 light-weight, cake-like middle layer. You must use a pastry blender for this step, nevertheless I need to utilize my palms, which allows me to get a better actually really feel for the size of the shortening and ensures the crumble has a breadcrumb-like consistency with no huge chunks of fat remaining. (Small strands or pea-sized objects are OK.)

For the crumble substances, I’m a fan of the robust style of darkish brown sugar, which contains additional molasses than mild brown sugar and offers the pie an far more molasses-forward style. It’s possible you’ll, however, substitute with mild brown sugar for a subtler tasting and lighter-colored pie. I make the most of vegetable shortening to arrange the topping, as that is what most Pennsylvanians use, nevertheless cubes of chilly, unsalted butter or lard will work merely as properly.

Chill the pie crust—and skip the blind bake. Most likely probably 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 unsightly, naked rim throughout the pie plate. In my recipe beneath, I identify for chilling the crust for on the very least an hour, adopted by a short freeze. This allows the gluten to settle down and prevents the crust from contracting as a result of the pie bakes. Freezing moreover ensures that the dough stays chilly when it’s out there in touch with the current molasses filling, lowering the prospect of the current filling melting components of the unbaked crust and making a soggy bottom as a result of the pie bakes.

To verify the crust is crisp and accurately cooked, many open-faced pie recipes instruct bakers to blind bake the crust sooner than pouring inside the filling. Standard Pennsylvania Dutch “moist bottom” pies, however, generally do not embrace a blind baking step. In its place, cooks start baking the crammed pie at about 400ºF or 204ºC, sooner than lowering the temperature halfway by means of. This provides the crust a head start and ensures it’s accurately cooked, whereas the lowered temperature in course of the tip of baking helps to set the filling.

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

On account of I reside inside the UK, the place molasses is not going to be as out there because it’s inside the US, I moreover examined with shoofly pie with darkish corn syrup, which did not fare properly. On account of corn syrup is thinner than molasses, it isn’t able to face as much as the burden of the crumble. The topping, consequently, sinks to the underside too shortly, creating a really 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 within the occasion you’d like a lighter, sweeter pie, chances are you’ll substitute quite a few the molasses with corn syrup in your filling. Within the occasion you go that route, I wish to suggest 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 often used inside the UK to comprehend a equally sweet and smoky style in recipes like gingerbread or gingersnap cookies. My treacle verify produced a deliciously rich, darkish, and bittersweet pie that was comparable adequate to molasses to make it substitution while you’ve bought entry to it and must play with the recipe.

Bake the pie on a rimmed baking sheet. Till it’s worthwhile 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 permits you to change the unbaked pie from the kitchen counter to the oven with minimal sloshing. Nonetheless additional importantly, it might probably protect your oven from the current syrup that may bubble and ooze as a result of the pie bakes.

Let the pie cool accurately. Though its gingerbread scent is partaking, do your best 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 may find yourself dealing with a liquidy mess.) It’s a true verify of willpower, nevertheless properly nicely definitely worth the wait.

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