Shoo Fly Pie - Home Cooking

Guest Author - Sandy Moyer

Shoo Fly Pie

The most famous of all Pennsylvania Dutch pies is the Shoo-fly Pie... a half-cake, half-pie creation. It's so-named because in years past, when pies were placed on window-sills to cool, housewives constantly had to 'shoo' away flies from their sweet and sticky pies. There are two kind of Shoo-fly pies... Plain Shoo-fly Pie and "Wet-Bottom" Shoo-fly Pie, by far the most popular kind. This recipe is for the gooey, wet-bottom version.

1 cup flour

1-1/2 T. vegetable shortening (such as Crisco®)

3/4 cup dark brown sugar - firmly packed

1 cup molasses or dark Karo syrup

1 egg - slightly beaten

3/4 cup hot water

1 tsp. baking soda, dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water (in addition to the 3/4 cup water)

Preparation -
Mix the flour, sugar and shortening together until crumbly. Measure 1/2 cup of this mixture and set it aside. (This will be used for the crumb topping.) Add the molasses, egg and baking soda/hot water mixture to the remaining flour mixture. Pour the batter into an unbaked deep dish 9" inch pie shell. Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of crumbs over top. Bake in a preheated oven at 400º for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350º and bake for 30 more minutes. As the shoo-fly pie bakes, a gooey wet bottom will form in the pie crust, below the molasses crumb cake.

For more about Pa. Dutch Pies see -
A Sampling of Pennsylvania Dutch Pie Recipes

This site needs an editor - click to learn more!

Editor's Picks Articles
Top Ten Articles
Previous Features
Site Map

Content copyright © 2012 by Sandy Moyer. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Sandy Moyer. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact BellaOnline Administration for details.