50 weeks, 50 states, 50 desserts
The second state is Pennsylvania, having ratified the U.S. Constitution on
December 12, 1787. Pennsylvania does not have an official state dessert. However, I read that both the sugar cookie and the chocolate chip cookie have been proposed as the state dessert, but neither are. Also, some believe the Whoopie Pie originated in Pennsylvania, but Maine has claimed it as its own state dessert.
So, I turn to the "Pennsylvania Dutch*" of Lancaster County for a dessert.
Pennsylvania - The Keystone State
State #2
December 12,1787
Shoo-Fly Pie
As with most things, there are many versions of Shoo-Fly Pie. The receipe I am using is a modified version of the recipe found in "Mary At The Farm and Book Of Recipes" by Edith Thomas, copyrighted 1915 by Edith Thomas.
1. Start with an unbaked pie crust. Grandma wrote and said that the best pie crusts have more shortening than the books say to use. I took note of this and added more shortening this time and it did seem to work better.
Pie Crust Recipe:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix flour and salt. Add shortening until well mixed (some suggest to use a food processor). Add water. Press together and form a ball. Immediately roll (with a pin that you stuck in the freezer) crust out on floured board to 1/2" to 1" larger than pie pan. Fit pastry loosely into pan. Trim, leaving 1/2" overhang. Fold under, flute and prick thoroughly.
Shoo-Fly Pie recipe
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Crumbs:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
Mix molasses and hot water. Stir in baking soda until it foams.
The foaming part was pretty cool. It bubbled up nicely. I was too slow with the camera to get a good picture.
Mix flour and brown sugar together. Stir in the butter. It should not be smooth but small rivels.
Someone suggested doing this in a food processor, so I did. It turned out okay, but not too crumbly. But it tasted good.
Enjoy!
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| I forgot to prick this one, but since I was baking it along with the filling, maybe it didn't matter. You couldn't tell a difference in the flavor, I can tell you that. Overall, it went much better than the first two crusts I made. |
Shoo-Fly Pie comes in two main varieties, either dry or wet bottom. I made mine as a wet bottom. Dry bottom is more layered. In a dry bottom pie the layers go, bottom crust, crumbs, molasses filling, more crumbs on top.
Filling: 1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Crumbs:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
Mix molasses and hot water. Stir in baking soda until it foams.
The foaming part was pretty cool. It bubbled up nicely. I was too slow with the camera to get a good picture.
Mix flour and brown sugar together. Stir in the butter. It should not be smooth but small rivels.
Someone suggested doing this in a food processor, so I did. It turned out okay, but not too crumbly. But it tasted good.
Pour filling into pie crust. Sprinkle the crumbs on top.
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| Here it is with the crumbs on top, ready to go into the oven. My crumbs were pretty thick, I'm not know if this is common. |
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| The top kind of gets hard and the molasses part starts to bubble up a bit and peak out along the sides. |
This pie is not as sweet as most. But the crumbs on top make up for the lack of sweetness from the molasses. We had ours with whipped cream and coffee. All three test tasters gave it their approval, although they did prefer the Indiana Hoosier Sweet Cream Pie.
Cost:
Molasses - $2.78
Project Total: $16.09
Cost:
Molasses - $2.78
Project Total: $16.09
*Dutch, of course, meaning German and not the Netherlands, more info on that here:
1 comment:
I'm so impressed with your pie crust. Maybe I could figure it out....always thought it was too hard!
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