shoofly pie

n.
A pie with a filling of molasses and brown sugar.

[So called because one will supposedly have to shoo away the flies attracted to the sweet filling.]

Recipe origin: United States Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch

Ingredients

• Frozen 9-inch pie crust, unbaked
• 1 cup flour
• ⅔ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tablespoon cold butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup molasses
• ¾ cup cold water
• ¼ cup hot water
• 1 Tablespoon baking soda

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt.
3. Remove ½ cup of the mixture and set aside.
4. In a small bowl, beat the egg. Add the molasses and cold water. Stir and set aside.
5. In another small bowl, mix the hot water with the baking soda and blend into the molasses mixture.
6. Add to the flour mixture and mix well Pour into the pie shell and top with the reserved crumbs.
7. Bake for 35 minutes.
8. The pie filling will appear jelly-like but will firm up as it cools.
9. Transfer to a rack to cool completely before cutting.

Thought to be of Pennsylvania Dutch origin, the extremely sweet filling of a shoofly pie is a mixture of molasses, brown sugar, water and butter. There are several different stories concerning the origin of the pie's name. One is that it's so sweet that one must shoo away the flies; another declares that the pie was originally made to attract flies away from other foods.

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: open pie filled with a mixture of sweet crumbs and molasses

---

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)