26. January 2011 · Comments Off on Kitchen Matters – Shoo Fly Pie · Categories: Uncategorized

I made this dessert – which in the Pennsylvania Dutch country (which isn’t Dutch but actually a corruption of Deutch – or German) can be eaten at breakfast – for my English-Greek neighbors, when I was stationed in Greece in the early 1980’s. They were mystified on several levels, as it is not really a pie, although it is baked in a pastry crust, and can be baked until it is sort of a cake, or left with a soggy center like a pudding. It also does not contain flies. They were also baffled about who or what, exactly, were the Amish, although that was explained very neatly by release of the movie Witness at about that time.

Shoo-Fly Pie

1  8-inch unbaked pie crust, chilled or pre-made or from scratch.

Combine: 1 1/2 cup flour, with 1/2 brown sugar, a pinch of salt, 1/4 teasp ginger, 1/4 teasp nutmeg, and 1/4 cup soft butter. Rub together with your hands until it resembles soft crumbs.

Combine in another bowl: 1/2 teasp baking soda, 1/2 cup molassas, 1/2 boiling water. (the mixture will foam up, slightly) Add to it 2/3rds of the crumb mixture and pour into the pie shell. Top with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, or less if you like it sort of pudding-soggy in the middle.

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