American · Pennsylvania Dutch · dessert

Shoofly Pie (Wet-Bottom)

Shoofly Pie (Wet-Bottom) reads sweetness 5.9, richness 5.2 and salinity 3.6 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a American · Pennsylvania Dutch dessert, about 3 hr 4 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sweetness 5.9 · Richness 5.2 · Salinity 3.6 · Umami 2.8 · Warm Spice 2.6 · Bitterness 2.0 · Earthy 1.9 · Nutty 1.8 · Floral 0.8 · Fruity 0.7 · Sourness 0.7

What's in it (11)

Time & effort: about 3 hr 4 min (1 hr 4 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 190.3 kcal, 2.5 g protein, 7.4 g fat, 44.2 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

  1. Weaver's history is worth knowing because it corrects the story most people have been told: shoofly pie is not an ancient Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse recipe but a nineteenth-century crumb cake baked in a crust, which became a tourist emblem in the twentieth. That does not make it less real. It makes it a documented commercial and regional invention, which is a different and more interesting thing.
  2. Wet-bottom versus dry-bottom is the argument. In a dry-bottom pie the molasses mixture is fully blended with the crumbs and bakes to a cake all the way through. In a wet-bottom pie — this one — the molasses liquid is poured in first and the crumbs floated on top, so it bakes into three distinct strata: a gooey molasses layer against the pastry, a cakey middle, and a dry crumb lid. Both are correct; wet-bottom is the one people mean when they get sentimental.
  3. Use real dark baking molasses, not blackstrap and not treacle. Blackstrap is the third-boiling by-product, mineral and bitter, and it will ruin the pie. King Syrup and Grandma's are the brands Pennsylvania kitchens actually use.
  4. Whisk the molasses with the boiling water and the baking soda in a bowl — it will foam up dramatically, which is the soda cutting the acidity and lightening the texture. Let it settle 2 minutes, then whisk in the beaten egg.
  5. Rub the flour, brown sugar, cold butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together with your fingertips until you have even, pea-sized crumbs. Do not overwork them into a paste.
  6. Pour the molasses liquid into the unbaked shell. Scatter the crumbs evenly over the whole surface, right to the edges, and do not stir. They will sit on the liquid and slowly sink partway as it bakes.
  7. Bake at 220 C (425 F) for 15 minutes to set the pastry, then drop the oven to 175 C (350 F) and bake 35 minutes more, until the crumb top is firm and dry and the centre barely shivers.
  8. Cool at least 2 hours. It is eaten at breakfast with coffee, which is a fact people find hard to believe until they have had a slice at seven in the morning.
  9. Substitutions: lard can stand in for the cold unsalted butter.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.