A brown sugar pie with deep American roots
Shoofly pie is an American classic
Friends, I hope everyone is having a good week so far. Today I want to share with you a recipe that holds a lot of endearment and nostalgia in some parts of America: shoofly pie. I only learned about it recently, from the pastry chef on our R&D team, Tammy Saunders. Unlike many other pies that have a fruit, pumpkin, or sweet potato filling, this one has a base of molasses with a sugary, crunchy topping. No one really knows exactly who made it first, but it became famous just after the Civil War when it was known as Centennial Cake, baked to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It’s likely named after a circus mule, Shoo-fly, who got his name from a popular molasses brand. It’s most well-known in Lancaster County in Southeast Pennsylvania, a beautiful part of the country with amazing farms, ancient barns, and rolling corn fields. Many people there are in the Mennonite and Amish communities, who grow and produce some of the best produce, dairy, and baked goods in the country, which you can find at incredible markets and food stands in the area.
Tammy grew up in Lancaster and has deep roots there. Her parents lived in the same house for almost 36 years, and growing up, she always loved to help make baked goods around the holidays, especially with her mom and neighbor, who were inspirations for her career. From Tammy: “My parents had this collection of cookbooks such as ‘Lancaster County Cookbook’ and various others, which included a collection of Amish and Mennonite recipes.” From those cookbooks, she would try cookie and pie recipes, adapting and evolving them as she learned more. “This recipe is an adaptation from two of those cookbooks, in which I created a hybrid recipe based off of a couple of others, and started putting my own personal touch and taste in there as well.”
People, this is one of the comfort foods of all comfort foods. It is buttery, flaky, sweet, crunchy, soft, and chewy all at once. There are two traditional ways to make it: “wet bottom” and “dry bottom,” with wet bottom having a gooey molasses base, and dry bottom having a more “cakey” base. This version is closer to the “wet bottom” version, but of course you should try both, because I am never going to tell you to eat less pie!
Shoofly pie