Shoo-Fly Pie

by The Webmaster
(www.living-in-woodbridge-va.com)

From our bake oven to yours...

There's a lot of Pennsylvania - and Dutch - in this clan and Shoo-Fly is a family favorite.

You might call it a coffee cake in a pie shell, but holidays would not be absolutely perfect without a Shoo-Fly Pie with a dollop of extra creamy Cool Whip on top!

This is a crumb pie unlike any other, one with as many recipe variations as there are cooks who prepare it. You might say it is an acquired taste and a pie not likely to be found too far out from Pennsylvania Dutch country.

You have a dry version and a "wet" version but in our book, the best Shoo-Fly is a perfectly balanced pie - with a gooey bottom layer, a moist spongy middle that gradually becomes drier as you get closer to the top...where you should have nothing more than a thin layer of golden brown crumbs.

It's all in how you assemble the few ingredients in our family Shoo-Fly Pie.

I use a prepared pie crust (Thank you Pillsbury!) brought to room temperature.

Have everything ready so the pie can be assembled as quickly as possible.

Step 1>

Preheat over the 450 degrees.

Line a 9 inch pie pan with the unbaked pie shell. Make sure the edges of the pie shell are fluted as high as possible. The liquid portion of the pie tends to bubble up and often spill.

Step 2>

Prepare the crumb portion of the pie as follows:

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

Cut the shortening into the brown sugar/flour mixture until crumbly. Set aside.

Step 3>

Prepare the liquid portion of the pie as follows:

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 little ginger, cinnamon and cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup molasses (I use Grandma's "unsulphured" dark molasses)

3/4 cup boiling hot water the hotter the water, the more your filling rises to create the layered crumb

Mix all ingredients for the liquid portion together in a medium glass Pyrex bowl and add hot water. Stir gently. The mixture will fizz as the baking soda reacts.

Step 4>

In unbaked pie crust, spread half of dry crumb mixture, then slowly pour all of the liquid mixture in a concentric circle so as not to disturb the bottom crumb layer. Top the liquid layer with the remaining crumbs. The liquid will not be totally covered.

Step 5>

Carefully place in over and bake at 450 degrees fir 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes or so. The crumbs should not burn but turn a golden brown and the liquid should be oozing out along the edges.

Although the filling does rise, it will shrink back down some in the middle.

There are versions of this pie made with dark Karo syrup and without any spices at all.

To our taste buds, it makes for a bland pie filling without the intense and traditional flavor of a true, Pennsylvania Dutch Shoo-Fly Pie.