Shoofly pie

2025-10-09T12:31:20Z

2605:0:120:200:B061:36CA:5BA5:C736:

{{short description|Molasses pie}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox prepared food
| name = Shoo-fly pie
| image = [[File:Wet-bottom Shoofly Pie.jpg|250px|Wet-bottom shoofly pie]]
| caption =
| alternate_name = Shoo-fly pie, molasses crumb pie, soda [[rivvels|rivvel]] cake
| country = [[United States]]
| region = [[Pennsylvania]]
| creator =
| course =
| type = [[Pie]]
| served =
| main_ingredient = Pie shell, [[molasses]]
| variations =
| calories =
| other =
}}

'''Shoofly pie''' is a type of [[pie in American cuisine|American pie]] made with [[molasses]] associated with [[Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine]]. While shoo-fly pie has been a staple of [[Moravians|Moravian]], [[Mennonite]], and [[Amish]] [[foodways]], there is scant evidence concerning its origins, and most of the folktales concerning the pie are apocryphal, including the persistent legend that the name comes from flies being attracted to the sweet filling.<ref>{{cite news |title=Shoo-fly pie: The sweet stuff of memories |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=22 November 2013 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/shoofly-pie-the-sweet-stuff-of-memories/2013/11/22/9ce297a2-5214-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html}}</ref>

The name ''shoo-fly'' was borrowed from a brand of molasses that was popular in parts of the U.S. during the late 19th century. Possibly related to the [[Jenny Lind]] pie (a soft [[gingerbread]] pie), it may have originated among the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 1880s as molasses [[crumb cake]], and is sometimes called ''molasses crumb pie''.<ref name=Byrn-2016/> Traditionally it was not served as a dessert pie, but instead as a [[breakfast food]] with hot [[coffee]].<ref name=Weaver-2013/>{{rp|style=ama|pp=221, 256 }}<ref name=Byrn-2016>{{cite book |last=Byrn |first=Anne |year=2016 |title=American Cake: From colonial gingerbread to classic layer, the stories and recipes behind more than 125 of our best-loved cakes |publisher=Rodale |isbn=9781623365431 |oclc=934884678 |page=73}}</ref> The modern form of shoo-fly pie as a crumb cake served in [[pie crust]] was a post-Civil War innovation, when [[cast iron cookware]] and [[Kitchen stove#Origins of the modern kitchen range|stoves]] made [[pie crust]] more feasible for home cooks.<ref name=Deutsch/><ref name=Weaver-2013>{{cite book |last=Weaver |first=William Woys |date=11 May 2013 |title=As American as Shoo-fly Pie: The foodlore and fakelore of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0771-2 |lang=en |pages=25, 221, 256 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6W40kZ5_DgC |via=Google Books}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p=25}}

== Description ==
[[File:Small_slice_of_molasses_shoofly_pie_2022.png|thumb|Slice of shoo-fly pie]]
Shoo-fly pie has been described as a [[crumb cake]] baked in a [[pie crust]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Shoofly pie |department=Recipes |series=Cooking |website=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017018-shoofly-pie |via=cooking.nytimes.com }}</ref> The primary ingredients of the filling are [[molasses]], [[brown sugar]], and water. Serving the cake in pie crust made it easier for people to [[Finger food|eat it with their hands]] in the 19th century.<ref name=Byrn-2016/>

It comes in two different versions: ''wet-bottom'' and ''dry-bottom''. The dry-bottom version is baked until fully set and results in a more cake-like consistency throughout. The wet-bottom version is set like cake at the top where it was mixed in with the crumbs, but the very bottom is a stickier, gooier [[Custard pie|custard-like]] consistency.<ref>{{cite web |title=Traditional shoo fly pie recipe |date=20 August 2013 |website=Our Heritage of Health |url=http://ourheritageofhealth.com/traditional-shoo-fly-pie-recipe/ |access-date=11 August 2014 |archive-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803153309/https://www.ourheritageofhealth.com/traditional-shoo-fly-pie-recipe/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Different recipes for the wet and dry versions appeared in the early 20th century – the dry version was suitable for dunking in a cup of [[coffee]].<ref name=Smith-2007>{{cite book |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Andrew F. |year=2007 |title=The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-530796-2 |pages=536 |oclc=71833329 }}</ref>

== History ==
Shoo-fly pie began as a crust-less molasses cake called ''centennial cake'' in 1876, created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] in [[Philadelphia]].<ref name=Byrn-2016/> There is no evidence of it being made before the [[American Civil War]].<ref name=Weaver-2013/> In the 1880s, home bakers added a crust to make it easier to eat alongside a cup of coffee in the morning, without plates and forks.<ref name=Byrn-2016/><ref name=Weaver-2013/> Precursors include Jenny Lind pie, a type of [[gingerbread]] cake that was named for the famed Swedish [[opera]] star, [[Jenny Lind's tour of America|Jenny Lind, after her tour of America]] in the 1850s. Because shoo-fly pie traditionally contains molasses but no [[Egg as food|eggs]], historians conclude that it was typically baked during the winter, when chickens laid fewer eggs and molasses could be stored in the cold weather without fear of it [[fermenting]]. The use of [[baking powder]] places its invention firmly after the Civil War and in the 1870s, when Pennsylvania Dutch bakers began using baking powder.<ref name=Weaver-2013/>

== Variations ==

A Montgomery pie is similar to a shoo-fly pie, except [[lemon juice]] is used in the bottom layer.<ref name=Smith-2007/> [[Treacle tart]] is a pie with a filling made from [[light treacle]].

== Name ==
The modern name comes from a particular [[brand]] of molasses from Philadelphia, ''Shoo-fly Molasses''.<ref name=Byrn-2016/><ref>{{cite AV media |last=Negley |first=Erin |date=12 March 2019 |title=Pa. Dutch eats: Shoof-ly pie is Lancaster's sweetest, gooiest treat |medium=video & recipe text |website=LancasterOnline |lang=en |url=https://lancasteronline.com/features/food/pa-dutch-eats-shoofly-pie-is-lancaster-s-sweetest-gooiest-treat-video-recipe/article_1a273262-603a-11e8-b27b-d7b1589c2d3d.htm |access-date=18 April 2021}}</ref> The name "shoo-fly pie" was used in the 1880s, but its first appearance in print was after [[World War I]].<ref name=Deutsch>{{cite book |last=Deutsch |first=Jonathan |others=Ulrich, Esther Martin |date=25 May 2018 |title=We Eat What? A cultural encyclopedia of unusual foods in the United States |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-4112-5 |page=278 |lang=en |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OGxaDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22shoofly+the+boxing+mule%22&pg=PA278 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The "Shoo-fly Molasses" brand was named after a popular [[circus]] animal that toured in Pennsylvania in the 19th century, "Shoo-fly the Boxing Mule".<ref name=Byrn-2016/><ref>{{cite web |last=Rummel |first=Rachel |title=Mornings in Amish country called for pie-cake and coffee |website=Atlas Obscura |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/shoofly-pie-amish |access-date=18 April 2021 |lang=en}}</ref> The [[mule]], in turn, may have been named after a song that became popular half a century before: "[[Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me]]".<ref name=Byrn-2016/> The pie is mentioned in the song "[[Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy]]", popularized by [[Dinah Shore]] in the 1940s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stern |first1=Jane |last2=Stern |first2=Michael |date=September 2011 |title=Lexicon of Real American Food |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7627-6830-1 |lang=en |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0nCFBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22dinah+shore%22+%22pie+and+apple+pan+dowdy%22&pg=PT10}}</ref>

In the [[Pennsylvania Dutch language]], ''shoo-fly pie'' is called '''''Melassich Riwwelboi''''' or '''''Melassichriwwelkuche'''''<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=Melassichriwwelkuche |dictionary=Pennsylvania Dutch Dictionary |via=padutchdictionary.com |url=https://www.padutchdictionary.com/#d=Melassichriwwelkuche}}</ref> (molasses crumb cake).<ref>{{cite book |last=Stern |first=Jane |date=4 June 2009 |title=500 Things to Eat Before It's too Late: And the very best places to eat them |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=9780547416441 |page=101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hs3z0zZWxpYC&pg=PA101 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Before its modern name became popular during the 20th century, it was ''molasses crumb pie'' or ''soda rivvel cake'' (''[[rivels]]'' are lumps of food).<ref name=Weaver-2013/>

==See also==
* [[Pie in American cuisine]]

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==External links==
{{Cookbook|Shoofly Pie}}
* {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Edith M. |year=1915 |section="Pebble-dash" or shoo-fly pie |title=Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes |quote=Compiled during her visit among the "Pennsylvania Germans" |page=377 |series=Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project |publisher=[[Michigan State University]] Library |section-url=https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa/52#page/1/mode/2up/search/Mary%20At%20The%20Farm%20And%20Book%20Of%20Recipes%20Compiled%20During%20Her%20Visit%20Among%20The%20%22Pennsylvania%20Germans%22%20pebble%20dash |access-date=2023-10-20}} — digital version of a cookbook page, page image only / no text
* {{cite news |title=Shoo-fly, don't Amish me |date=March 2006 |newspaper=[[Yale Daily News]] |url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2006/03/24/shoo-fly-dont-amish-me/}} — article on the pie which includes a recipe

{{American pies}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shoofly Pie}}
[[Category:American pies]]
[[Category:Cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch]]
[[Category:Sweet pies]]
[[Category:Molasses]]

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Shoofly pie