Desserts

Shoofly Pie

February 27, 2018

If you are browsing through any old church cookbook, you’ll probably see a recipe for Shoofly Pie. It’s a Pennsylvania Dutch dessert recipe from the 1800s. Typically, it’s made with molasses, but this recipe I found uses brown sugar instead. It was my first experience with Shoofly Pie, but it won’t be my last!

I remember reading my Nancy Drew books when I was a kid and the author referencing Shoofly Pie. Nancy was investigating a mystery in the Pennsylvania Dutch region and someone there had set a Shoofly Pie on their window ledge to cool. I thought it would be a lot sweeter than it actually was! I was thinking it was so sweet you’d have to “shoo” the flies away from it (haha).

Shoofly Pie - A popular Pennsylvania Dutch pie recipe from the 1800s. 

Yield: 6

Shoofly Pie

Prep Time:10 minutes

Cook Time:40 minutes

Total Time:50 minutes

A popular Pennsylvania Dutch pie recipe from the 1800s.

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp shortening
  • 1 cup table syrup
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 9″ frozen pie shell

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Stir together flour, brown sugar and shortening to make crumbs. Set aside 1/2 cup.
  3. In another bowl, stir together egg and table syrup. Dissolve baking soda in hot water and then add to syrup mixture and stir. Add remaining crumbs to mixture and stir. Pour into pie shell.
  4. Sprinkle reserved crumbs on top. Bake for 40 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Shoofly Pie - A popular Pennsylvania Dutch pie recipe from the 1800s.

It pairs deliciously with a mug of hot coffee or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you love old fashioned desserts, give this one a try.

I’d love to hear about the other variations of Shoofly Pie. How do you make yours?


posted in Desserts
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Stacie Vaughan

Stacie is the mom of two girls and lives in Ontario, Canada. She enjoys cooking/baking, photography, reading, DIY and is fueled by lots of coffee!

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