Shoo Fly, Shoo: A Different Kind of Pie

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Now where in the world would you find a pie named after a fly? Home to multitudes of the plain sect and Amish, our home county is privy to some unusually good baked treats, one of which is Shoofly Pie. And first time visitors aren’t the only ones who stop and comment on this pie with an unusual name. Natives wonder too. My daughter asked me this very question just the other day. “How did Shoofly Pie get its name?” And darned if I didn’t know.

So, if you’re not one of the thousands of tourists who travel to Lancaster County to buy an authentic pie, join me for this quest about the strange-name pie. Kids just love the thought of making such a weirdly-named baked good—and the recipe is kid-friendly enough to have them mixing and pouring in no time.

This is a pie that’s as old as this country. Shoofly Pie came to North America with the first settlers who came to America. Having traveled a long way by boat, these first settlers brought only the most basic of dietary necessities and long-lasting non-perishables that could survive such conditions. Flour, brown sugar, molasses, lard, salt and spices were what they had to make do with—and that’s precisely how this pie originated.

With a penchant for pies and sweets—yet having to make due with the supplies at hand—it’s said that some of the first women settlers concocted this creation rich in sweet, sticky molasses. Since baking was commonly done in outdoor ovens, it was only a matter of time before irritated bakers and cooks’ assistants put a name to the pie that attracted flies to its sweet surface.

Rich, moist, and satisfying like a coffeecake, sweetened with molasses and topped with buttery crumbs, it’s one of those unique flavors that satisfies like no other. That’s how my daughter and I came to bake a Shoofly Pie this weekend. A friend mentioned that she was hungry for one … and, well, the rest is history.

It’s an easy pie that’s much less intimidating than apple or cherry to start kids on. With the layer of dark wetness tucked in between the cake, crumbs and crust, it’s the perfect Pennsylvania German dessert.

In honor of the black buggies and horses that clip-clop down our local country roads, we invite you to try our homespun Shoofly Pie, adapted from the Mennonite Community Cookbook.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup shortening, chilled and diced
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup dark molasses
• 1 pie crust (9" size), unbaked