Shoofly Pie
Shoofly pie is a molasses crumb pie that originated in the US in the late 19th century among the Pennsylvania Dutch communities. A strongly flavored pie, it was traditionally served cold with a cup of hot coffee as a quick breakfast for a busy farmer. This "wet-bottom" version is adapted from a recipe found in an old recipe scrapbook, which was re-published in The New York Times in both 1965 and 2022. Other versions use baking powder instead of baking soda, adjust the spices, or cook the pie until it is solid ("dry-bottom").
Total Time
2 hours
Servings
1 pie
Pie crust
Bottom pie crust 1 ea. ā ā
Streusel filling
Butter, cold and cubed 1 stick Ā½ cup 115 g
All-purpose flour 1Ā½ cups 180 g
Brown sugar, preferably dark Ā½ cup 100 g
Ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon 3 g
Ground nutmeg Ā½ teaspoon 1 g
Molasses filling
Boiling water Ā¾ cup (6 fl oz) 170 g
Light unsulphured molasses Ā¾ cup 250 g
Baking soda Ā½ teaspoon 5 g
Fit your raw pie crust into the pie plate. Because the pie filling is liquid, do not dock (prick holes in) the dough or use a perforated pie plate. Patch any accidental holes or tears you see. Shape the pie crust edges however you would like.
Freeze the empty pie crust for 15 minutes, or refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.
15 minutes
Preheat the oven to 375 Ā°F (190 Ā°C, gas mark 5, moderately hot).
Line the cold pie crust with parchment paper or a paper coffee filter that is big enough to cover the entire pie, from edge to edge, when pressed down.
Fill the paper with pie weights. These will hold the parchment paper against the side of the pie crust, to keep it from melting and sliding down the edges in the oven.
Bake for 20ā25 minutes. Remove it from the oven, and then remove the pie weights and the paper. Discard the paper. The pie weights can be stored and reused.
20ā25 minutes
Turn the oven temperature up to 450 Ā°F (230 Ā°C, gas mark 8, hot/very hot).
Transfer the butter pieces, flour, brown sugar, and spices into a mixing bowl.
Cut or rub the ingredients together. You can do this with a pastry blender, wooden spoon, or electric mixer. Stop before the mixture is completely blended togetherāyou should still be able to see some small lumps of butter.
Spread at least a quarter of the raw streusel filling across the bottom of the parbaked pie crust.
Stir the boiling water and molasses together in the heat-proof bowl.
Working quickly, stir the baking soda into the molasses-water mixture, and then immediately pour it into the pie crust, on top of the streusel filling.
Top with the rest of the streusel filling, spreading it flat with your hand or the back of a spoon if needed.
Cover the edges of the crust with a pie crust shield or aluminum foil, so they will be less likely to overcook.
Carefully put the pie in the oven to bake. The boiling hot liquid filling will slosh when you move the pie, so move slowly. You may want to put a baking sheet under the pie to catch any drips.
Bake at 450 Ā°F (230 Ā°C, gas mark 8, hot/very hot) for 15 minutes.
15 minutes
Reduce the temperature to 350 Ā°F (175 Ā°C, gas mark 4, moderate/medium) for another 20 minutes. The pie filling should be set (i.e. it should not wiggle when you take it out of the oven), but the exact amount of doneness is a matter of personal preference.
20 minutes
Let cool before servingāif you don't, it will make a mess when you cut it.
- ā¢If you don't have pie weights, you can use an inexpensive, dry ingredient like sugar or uncooked rice. If you use white sugar or white rice while blind-baking your pie crust, the weight can be re-used several times. Store in an ordinary airtight container at room temperature. After helping you parbake or blind-bake several pie crusts, the white sugar becomes toasted sugar, which can be used in baked goods, especially delicately flavored cakes and cookies.
- ā¢Serve with coffee or tea, either by itself or accompanied by vanilla ice cream, cinnamon ice cream, or lightly sweetened whipped cream. While it is now usually served like any other slice of pie (with a fork and on a small plate), it is traditional to pick up a slice of shoofly pie and eat it with your hands.
- ā¢Store at room temperature. It keeps well for a couple of days.
- ā¢This recipe assumes American-style ingredients. Brown sugar in other countries may be too dry. If you don't have "sticky" American-style brown sugar, stir together the same amount of ordinary white sugar and 10 g of molasses to make a homemade brown sugar substitute.
- ā¢The so-called "light" molasses called for here is a very dark brown syrup. The most common brands in the US are Grandma's and Brer Rabbit, but any brand of molasses will do. Sometimes "dark" or "full flavor" molasses are available; this even darker brown molasses will work, but it will produce a stronger flavor, which may not be desired. Do not use blackstrap molasses, which is too bitter, and do not use sulphured molasses, which will have a chemical flavor. If you can't get molasses, try dark corn syrup, sometimes called "Karo" after the most popular brand in the USāit will have a milder taste. If you think you would prefer a milder flavor, then substitute dark Karo for part of the molasses.
- ā¢If you are measuring ingredients by volume, first lightly oil the cup you're using to measure the molasses. Then the molasses will not stick to the inside of the measuring cup as much.
- ā¢This recipe can be made vegan by using a vegan butter substitute and a vegan pie crust.