Shoofly Pie
Unless you or your grandparents are from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, there’s a solid chance you’ve only ever heard of shoofly pie. But tasted one? You can’t quite remember. An often overlooked regional American specialty popular in Amish country and in the Mennonite community, it’s believed shoofly pie (sometimes spelled shoe-fly pie) was first made by the Pennsylvania Dutch. However, they likely got the idea from English ex-pats who swapped molasses into their beloved treacle tarts. The origin of its name is also somewhat murky; according to The Oxford Companion to Food, it likely comes from bakers having to shoo away flies from the pie plate.
Shoofly pies are divided into two camps: wet bottom and dry bottom. The former is a crumb pie with a thick, gooey layer of molasses, while the latter is more akin to a coffee cake baked into a pie crust. This one from Wendy Jo’s, a long-standing Lancaster bakery in the city’s Central Market, falls squarely into the wet bottom camp.
Her recipe makes enough pie dough for two 9" pies, but you can easily freeze half of it. If you don’t have much experience with molasses, know that it comes in a few varieties: light molasses (or baking molasses) is the sweetest, while blackstrap molasses is the most robust. For this pie filling, unsulfured baking molasses is best (read more about the types of molasses). Let the pie cool nearly to room temperature (just slightly warm is best) so the molasses mixture has time to set.
Looking for more pie recipes? Check out our favorites, including ones for crumb-topped apple pie, blueberry-buttermilk chess pie, and a guava goat cheese number that uses store-bought phyllo.
Recipe information
Total Time
60 minutes plus chilling
Yield
Makes one 9" pie
Ingredients
Crust
3
1
1
1
1
Filling and Assembly
1
⅔
1
1
1
1
Preparation
Crust
Step 1
Whisk 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour and 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a medium bowl to combine. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, work in 1 cup vegetable shortening until largest pieces are pea-size.
Step 2
Whisk together 1 large egg, beaten to blend, 1 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar, and ½ cup ice-cold water in a small bowl. Add to dry ingredients and mix with your hands until incorporated.
Step 3
Divide dough into 2 portions (note: recipe makes enough dough for 2 pie crusts). Roll out 1 portion on a lightly floured surface to a 10" round. Transfer to a 9"-diameter pie pan. Lift edges and allow dough to slump down into pan, then press dough firmly into bottom and sides and crimp the edges as desired. Chill pie shell until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 weeks (cover tightly in plastic wrap if chilling longer than 1 hour). Form remaining dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill up to 2 weeks (or freeze up to 1 month).
Filling and Assembly
Step 4
Preheat oven to 375°. Mix 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour, ⅔ cup (packed; 134 g) brown sugar, and 1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening in a heatproof medium bowl to combine. Set aside ½ cup flour mixture for topping.
Step 5
Add 1 large egg, 1 cup (generous) unsulfured molasses, and 1 tsp. baking soda to remaining flour mixture in bowl and mix to combine. Pour in ¾ cup boiling water and mix, scraping down sides of bowl, until incorporated.
Step 6
Pour molasses filling into crust; evenly scatter reserved flour mixture over filling. Bake pie 18 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350° and continue to bake until crust is golden and filling is slightly wobbly in the center when pan is gently shaken, 18–20 minutes longer. Transfer pie to a wire rack and let cool at least 2 hours before serving.
Step 7
Cut pie into wedges and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Editor’s note: This shoofly pie recipe first appeared on bonappetit.com in October 2010. Head this way for more of our favorite Thanksgiving pies →
Leave a Review
Reviews (1)
Back to TopAny chance this would still shine in a store bought crust to save time during holiday cooking? Asking for a friend…
Jess
Brooklyn, NY
11/21/2023