Growing up in northern Delaware usually resulted in many weird looks when I told people where I was from. “Dela-WHERE?” “Isn’t that part of New Jersey?” “Is that in Germany?” What actually put us on the map, however, was the movie, Wayne’s World. “Hi… we’re in… Delaware.” Word on the street was that the people in the theaters would burst into applause after that line. I unfortunately, only saw the movie on VHS.
A great part about living in northern Delaware was that we were so close to the Pennsylvania border. The Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish population was only a hop, skip and a jump away. In fact, our local farm market that we attended on the weekends showcased tons of Amish vendors. All the meats and baked goods that we bought were from the Amish.
One of my absolute favorite pies that we bought from the Amish bakers was Shoo Fly pie. It supposedly got its name from bakers having to shoo away the flies after this pie was cooling. The filling is made of molasses, which makes it nice, thick and sticky, and it is finally topped with a crumb mixture.
I found this recipe on the Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant website, and it looked and sounded pretty authentic. I do remember that the meat vendor at the farm market we attended was owned by the Stoltzfus family, so this could be their family recipe, but I don’t know for sure.
Enjoy this taste of shoo fly pie from my hometown area!
Shoo fly pie
Ingredients
Bottom Part
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup molasses
- 1/2 teaspoon soda
- 1/3 cup boiling water
- 2/3 cup cold water
Crumbs
- 2 cups flour
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup shortening or lard
Instructions
Make the bottom part
- Stir the egg into 1 cup of brown sugar. Add the molasses. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water. Add the cold water; then combine with the sugar and egg mixture. Pour into an unbaked 9 inch pie shell.
Make the crumbs
- Cut the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and shortening together until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of the Bottom Part.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake 50 minutes longer or until done.
Notes
I never knew shoo fly pie was real; but this sounds like my kind of pie (I'm in the minority of people that generally don't like fruit pies!)PS – Anytime I think of Delaware (which I know where it is btw!) I think of Wayne's World!
My husband grew up in Pennsylvania right near the Delaware line. His family buys shoo fly pie from the Amish every fall-I bet he'd love it if I made this!
Lovely! I just made a molasses cake, which was excellent, but I m ready for more. This sounds like it will fit the bill perfectly.
Why so much trouble with shoo-fly pie? Because of the crust. As a rule I don t like pie crusts that aren t pre-baked. They can have a cereal mouthfeel that results from uncooked flour. They also get wet and sloppy, especially when a pie filling goes in as runny as this one does. True, for some people wet bottom shoofly pie is a delicacy. For those folks an unbaked crust is the way to go.