Shoo Fly Pie - Home Cooking

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

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