Shoofly pie is a sticky, sweet pie made with molasses filling. It is an extremely popular dish among the Pennsylvanian Dutch, a community of American settlers, and the dish is now a favorite in southern United States. It is fluffy in texture, and sticky due to the use of molasses. It is also spelled 'shoo-fly pie'.
History of Shoofly Pie
The pie is known to have been created by the Pennsylvanian Dutch, who brought it from Germany to Pennsylvania when they settled here. The dish is still traditionally prepared by Amish women and people come from near and far to taste each other's pies.
The name shoofly pie or shoo-fly pie also has an interesting origin. It is considered that the women preparing these pies would leave them on the window sills to cool. The sweet stickiness of the pies would attract so many flies that the women were continuously 'shooing' the flies away. Hence it got the name 'shoo-fly pie'. Another theory says that the pie may have been named after the popular brand 'Shoofly Molasses' of the 18th century, which may have been commonly used to prepare the pie. The name first appeared in print in 1926.
Ingredients Used and Popular Method of Preparation of Shoofly Pie
The principal ingredients suggested by the Shoofly pie recipe are molasses, brown sugar, all purpose flour, baking soda, eggs, shortening and hot water. Molasses is a by-product obtained during manufacture of sugar.
Method of Preparation
According to Shoofly pie recipe, a pie filling is prepared with molasses mixed with hot water, baking soda and egg. Crumb topping is made with a mixture of brown sugar and shortening. The filling is poured into the pie shell, and then topped with the crumb topping. The resulting pie is baked in an oven.
Serving and Eating Shoofly Pie
Shoofly pie is served as a dessert. It is cooled and sliced, and served in dessert plates at the end of a meal.
Popular Shoofly Pie Variations
The ingredients suggested by the shoofly pie recipe can be experimented with to make a number of variations to the original dish. For example, a chocolate shoofly pie recipe suggests topping of the shoofly pie with chocolate icing. Montgomery pie is another variant, which consists of an additional lemon juice layer at the bottom and a buttermilk layer at the top. A similar dish called cheese pie is made with corn syrup.
Health and Nutrition Facts of Shoofly Pie
Shoofly pie is a good source of essential nutrients for the body. Molasses present in the pie is an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron, and is often used to prepare diet supplements. However, use of sugar adds extra calories to the dish.
Shoofly Pie Trivia
The pie was a part of the marketing campaign of Pennsylvania Tourism in 2009.
