Shoofly Pie is a classic, old-fashioned pie recipe that is popular to serve for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Shoofly Pie is a brown sugar- molasses pie filling baked in a traditional pie crust. Sometimes its referred to as a molasses crumb cake. It’s a sturdy enough pie that you can pick it up and eat a slice with your hands.
History of the Shoofly Pie:
This pie has its roots with the Pennsylvania Dutch back in the 1880’s. Since there are no eggs in the pie, historians believe that the pie was most likely one that was typically baked in the winter (when chickens didn’t lay eggs and molasses stored well in the cold weather). People ate Shoofly Pie with their coffee in the morning for breakfast. Nowadays, this old fashioned pie recipe is sometimes served as a dessert for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
How the Shoofly Pie got its name:
It’s said that this pie is so sticky and sweet that you have to shoo flies away from it. That’s how it got its name more than 100 years ago!
How to make a Shoofly Pie:
This unique pie is made in a nontraditional way. Dry ingredients are combined (flour, sugar and cinnamon), and cold butter is cut into the dry ingredients to create a coarse crumb mixture. Molasses, water and baking soda are combined in a separate bowl. One third of the molasses mixture is poured into an unbaked pie shell. One third of the dry ingredients are sprinkled on top. And the layering continues… ending with the flour mixture and then baking.
I first sampled this pie while I was in college when I went to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving, and his Mom made a Shoofly Pie! I had never heard of this sort of a pie, so I was anxious to try it. The best way to describe the flavor of it is that it’s a pie that has strong flavors of molasses and brown sugar. I like to call it “sugar pie.” If you like molasses cookies, you might enjoy this pie. It’s definitely really different than most pies you’ve tried.
Let me know if you give this pie a try for the holidays this year. It’s okay to make it a day ahead and let it sit on the counter until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Here are a few more Thanksgiving dessert ideas to consider:
- Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
- Classic Double Crust Apple Pie
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Caramel Apple Cheesecake
- Apple Cranberry Crumb Pie
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake
- Sweet Potato Cake
- Pumpkin and Ginger Pound Cake
Shoofly Pie
Ingredients
- One unbaked pie crust
- 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place the pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Pinch the edges around the edge of the plate.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter (or two knives) until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the molasses, boiling water and baking soda.
- Pour 1/3 of the molasses mixture into the unbaked pie crust. and sprinkle with 1/3 of the flour mixture. Continue alternating layers, ending with the flour mixture.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes- or until the filling is set and the crumbs are golden.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I first came across this rustic, old-timer pie when I was in college. A boyfriend took me home for Thanksgiving, and his mother served Shoofly Pie as part of her Thanksgiving feast. I was intrigued enough to scribble down the recipe, and I ve kept it with me to this day. This pie originated with the Pennsylvania Dutch. It s a molasses pie (I like to call it a sugar pie), and it s believed to have gotten its name because sweet molasses attracts flies which need to be shooed away.